Silence

		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!


		To One In Paradise

		Thou wast that all to me, love,
		   For which my soul did pine--
		A green isle in the sea, love,
		   A fountain and a shrine,
		All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
		   And all the flowers were mine.
		
		Ah, dream too bright to last!
		   Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
		But to be overcast!
		   A voice from out the Future cries,
		"On! on!"--but o'er the Past
		   (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
		Mute, motionless, aghast!
		
		For, alas! alas! with me
		   The light of Life is o'er!
		   "No more--no more--no more--"
		(Such language holds the solemn sea
		   To the sands upon the shore)
		Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
		   Or the stricken eagle soar!
		
		And all my days are trances,
		   And all my nightly dreams
		Are where thy dark eye glances,
		   And where thy footsteps gleams--
		In what ethereal dances,
		   By what eternal streams.


		To--

		I heed not that my earthly lot
		   Hath little of earth in it--
		That years of love have been forgot
		   In the hatred of a minute:--
		I mourn not that the desolate
		   Are happier, sweet, than I,
		But that you sorrow for my fate
		   Who am a passer by.


		Evening Star

		'Twas noontide of summer,
		   And midtime of night,
		And stars, in their orbits,
		   Shone pale, through the light
		Of the brighter, cold moon.
		   'Mid planets her slaves,
		Herself in the Heavens,
		   Her beam on the waves.
		
		   I gazed awhile
		   On her cold smile;
		Too cold--too cold for me--
		   There passed, as a shroud,
		   A fleecy cloud,
		And I turned away to thee,
		   Proud Evening Star,
		   In they glory afar
		And dearer thy beam shall be;
		   For joy to my heart
		   Is the proud part
		Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
		   And more I admire
		   Thy distance fire,
		Than that colder, lowly light.