THE irresponsive silence of the land, <br /> The irresponsive sounding of the sea, <br /> Speak both one message of one sense to me:-- <br />Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand <br />Thou too aloof, bound with the flawless band <br /> Of inner solitude; we bind not thee; <br /> But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free? <br />What heart shall touch thy heart? What hand thy hand? <br />And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek, <br /> And sometimes I remember days of old <br />When fellowship seem'd not so far to seek, <br /> And all the world and I seem'd much less cold, <br /> And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold, <br />And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/aloof/
