Silence
October 23, 2023
O, THOU strong and sacred silence, self-contained in self-control;
O, thou palliating silence, Sabbath art thou of the soul;
Lie like snow upon my virtues, lie like dust upon my faults.
Silent when the world dethrones me, silent when the world exalts.
Tamper not with idle rumor lest the truth appear to lie;
Carve thy life to hilted silence, wrong shall fall on it and die.
Tamper not with accusation, harvest not what thou hast heard,
Christ stood in the court of Herod, but he answered not a word.
Know thou this that there is nothing in the sounding lists of life
That so fortifies thy manhood as the argument of life;
Listen not to old wives’ fables, draw thyself from such apart,
Keep the thought of life like Mary, virgin to a virgin’s heart.
It is well for us to suffer, it is well for us to wait;
Well to swing like little children all our life on death’s loose gate;
Well to feel a mortal sickness wean the soul from earthly spell;
Well to hear when all is over, that sweet whisper, “All is well.”
—from Silence by Samuel Miller Hageman
