Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THERE WAS SILENCE IN HEAVEN, by ANONYMOUS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THERE WAS SILENCE IN HEAVEN, by                    
First Line: Can angel spirits need repose
Last Line: Into the palace of my god
Subject(s): Heaven; Paradise


CAN angel spirits need repose
In the full sunlight of the sky?
And can the veil of slumber close
A cherub's bright and blazing eye?

Have seraphim a weary brow,
A fainting heart, an aching breast?
No, far too high their pulses flow
To languish with inglorious rest.

O, not the death-like calm of sleep
Could hush the everlasting song;
No fairy dream or slumber deep
Entrance the rapt and holy throng.

Yet not the lightest tone was heard
From angel voice or angel hand;
And not one plumed pinion stirred
Among the pure and blissful band.

For there was silence in the sky,
A joy not angel tongues could tell,
As from its mystic fount on high
The peace of God in stillness fell.

O, what is silence here below?
The fruit of a concealed despair;
The pause of pain, the dream of woe;—
It is the rest of rapture there.

And to the wayworn pilgrim here,
More kindred seems that perfect peace,
Than the full chants of joy to hear
Roll on, and never, never cease.

From earthly agonies set free,
Tired with the path too slowly trod,
May such a silence welcome me
Into the palace of my God.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net