Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RELIEF, by WALTER JOHN COATES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RELIEF, by                    
First Line: How great a song is silence! When the ear
Last Line: Grant us, ye gods, one hour, this sure relief!
Subject(s): Sound


How great a song is Silence! When the ear
Is dulled and sated, surfeited with sound
Of radio programs, chatter on the ground,
Raucous broadcastings from afar and near,
It makes one wish him anywhere but here . . .
Here where loud-speakers, crooners, gongs abound
And pressure salesmen mouth their talk around
The inescapable clamor of the year!

Anathemas are futile. Earth is filled
Full of man's tin distractions, yammerings, noise,
His pandemoniums past all sane belief.
Songful indeed were silence, once instilled
Even briefly in a world so out of poise . . .
Grant us, ye gods, one hour, this sure relief!





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