Three Silences there are: the first of speech, <br />The second of desire, the third of thought; <br />This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught <br />With dreams and visions, was the first to teach. <br />These Silences, commingling each with each, <br />Made up the perfect Silence, that he sought <br />And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught <br />Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach. <br />O thou, whose daily life anticipates <br />The life to come, and in whose thought and word <br />The spiritual world preponderates. <br />Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard <br />Voices and melodies from beyond the gates, <br />And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-three-silences-of-molinos/
