Silence, and stealth of days! 'tis now <br />Since thou art gone, <br />Twelve hundred hours, and not a brow <br />But clouds hang on. <br />As he that in some cave's thick damp <br />Lockt from the light, <br />Fixeth a solitary lamp, <br />To brave the night, <br />And walking from his sun, when past <br />That glim'ring ray <br />Cuts through the heavy mists in haste <br />Back to his day, <br />So o'r fled minutes I retreat <br />Unto that hour <br />Which show'd thee last, but did defeat <br />Thy light, and power, <br />I search, and rack my soul to see <br />Those beams again, <br />But nothing but the snuff to me <br />Appeareth plain; <br />That dark and dead sleeps in its known <br />And common urn, <br />But those fled to their Maker's throne <br />There shine and burn; <br />O could I track them! but souls must <br />Track one the other, <br />And now the spirit, not the dust, <br />Must be thy brother. <br />Yet I have one Pearl by whose light <br />All things I see, <br />And in the heart of earth and night <br />Find heaven and thee.<br /><br />Henry Vaughan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/silence-and-stealth-of-days/
