Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NATURE'S RETICENCE, by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NATURE'S RETICENCE, by                    
First Line: Silence golden is, I say
Last Line: Will heaven tell all past divining?
Subject(s): Heaven; Life; Nature; Silence; Time; Paradise


SILENCE golden is, I say,
With strange meaning, in new way.
Dawn's bright face has more to tell
Than a wealth of words could spell;
Evening's tender glow has brought me
Lore that language never taught me.

"Coming" gaily chimes the one
Eloquent of Day begun;
Music of the wave and breeze,
Trill of warblers, plaint of trees,
Silent to me, save in sending
This one message thro' their blending.

Coming! who, what, far or near?
Ah! your song is silence here.
Tongue of Sphinx or Gorgon face
Whisper more than your calm grace.
Naught but life's unfolding history
May uncurtain that dark mystery.

"Going" -- thus the other sings,
Eve with her soft fading things,
Vocal in sad quiet ways,
Fainting amber, deepening haze,
Tideless strand -- this telling only
To the pensive and the lonely.

Yet your tranquil beauty speaks
All the ravished spirit seeks:
Foiled of what the mind would know,
She reposes in your glow --
Feels that it divinely teaches
Truth that Morn and Eve o'erreaches.

Coming -- naught could tell me more
Than that Time holds yet in store
Joy, like Dawn's that knows no cloud,
Destined for an evening shroud;
Richer life, as Noon's full glory:
Death, as Night ends Sunset story.

Going -- none may add to this,
That they vanish, woe and bliss,
As Day's weary ones find rest,
As spent glow fades in the west,
When there steals the dusky finger
Veiling all, tho' long it linger.

What of that, if changeless Love,
Like yon canopy above,
Shed new grace, as soft Moonlight
And sweet Starbeams, silver Night?
"Speech is silvern," mid that shining
Will Heaven tell all past divining?





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