SILENCE.

Page 53 of 172 SILENCE - Complete Poetical Works

There are some qualities--some incorporate things,

That have a double life, which thus is made

A type of that twin entity which springs

From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.

There is a twofold _Silence_--sea and shore--

Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,

Newly with grass o'ergrown; some solemn graces,

Some human memories and tearful lore,

Render him terrorless: his name's "No More."

He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!

No power hath he of evil in himself;

But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)

Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,

That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod

No foot of man), commend thyself to God!

1840

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"The great advantage of being in a rut is that when one is in a rut, one knows exactly where one is. "
Thomas Arnold Bennett