Silent City
Deserted streets lie draped in dusk and yarns of yesterday,
with silent sounds no longer heard (though having much to say)
since teeming life, abundant once, surceased and slipped away.
Against a sudden sullen burst (unleashing lashing waves
that washed the Silent City clean with radiance that laves) ,
neath soothing suds so soft and mild, the stony structure braves.
Within the walls, whist buildings, tall... outside the City, dunes...
they mime a soon forgotten tale, once written, carved in runes
on broken skies, like halos hung, reflections of the moon's.
Though churches, mosques and synagogues abide without a bruise
the City's now a sepulcher for Christians, Muslims, Jews -
Cathedrals, Temples, vacant now, enshrine their residues.
A church's Gothic ceilings guard the empty pews below,
and blowing there above the bones, a maiden's blue jabot.
The Saints, in crypts and catacombs grace halos still aglow.
Steel chapel chimes! The clapper rope (that tongue-tied confidante)
won't writhe to ring the carillons, alone and lean and gaunt -
stray flocks of jute, like downy dregs, adorn the holy font.
With footsteps in the church no more (apostates that profane) ,
the echoes in the nave have gone, though chalice cups remain -
instead of wine, stale liquid drops decaying back to rain.
No face appears with jagged tongue to sing a silent psalm
or paint pale lips with languid laughs to pierce the deathly calm -
or pray for mercy, grace, reprieve, or beg lethean balm.
Coiled candle sticks! Their iron claws no longer loom the cracks
with dying flame in smoky swirl mid clotting pearls of wax,
since night lit up, and innocence dissolved in deadend tracks.
Thin shadows shift, like silver shafts, across the cruel moraine
reflecting once a wisp of light in drops of ebon bane
which casts a crooked smile across a faceless window pane.
Above! The cage of vapid night reveals a velvet streak,
through which the wicked winter winds will sometimes weave and sneak.
Afar! Some distant cables sway, a bridge clings hushed and bleak.
The parapets, unoccupied, with neither voice nor crier,
no cantillation, belfry bells; no Minarets inspire -
abodes and buildings silhouette a mirthless muted choir.
Wan neon lights glow overcast with darkness meant to slate
and lanterns hanging high above, in silent swinging gait,
haunt ballrooms, bars, abandoned now, with no one left to fete.
The skyline, pale, shows no remorse, neath twilight's silver shrouds
oblivious she always was to cries in dying crowds -
in foggy neap their spirits seep, a clutch of clammy clouds.
The steeple towers, stone and steel, drab daggers in the sky!
Their hallowed halls ring empty now, though breezes wander by -
but, daring not to wake the dead, they've ceased to sough or sigh.
No things appear with jagged tongues to sing a silent psalm
or paint pale lips with languid laughs to pierce the deathly calm -
there's only hollow emptiness that shifting shades embalm.
The sun-bleached bones of those who smiled are scattered down the lanes
while other souls who crept in fear left bones with yellow stains.
But plaintive tears were never shed, for no one felt the pains.
The castle clocks unwound and stopped! Their peerless speechless spokes
unfurl in black the reigning Night, by spinning off her cloaks
and flaunting stark oblivion, her Baroness evokes.
Green trees went dark, in palace parks, where children paused to play -
now no one minds the voiceless swings or statues made of clay,
though graveyards mute the marbled tombs, where grievers knelt to pray.
The terrors of a conscience fraught, no longer stalk nearby
or rend or rip the curtained clouds, frail fabrics of the sky -
the wraiths of night and sleepless dreams no longer terrify.
And fog no longer creeps beyond the edge of doom's café,
or if she does, in mourning veils, she frills the cabaret
with sallow shades of dripping tears and sheets of shallow gray.
Beyond the suburbs, farmers' fields (where donkeys often brayed)
are lying fallow, barren dust, where living seed once laid
and in the void a scarecrow sways, impaled upon a spade.
A silo, still! With hollow hull, a ravished feather's vane -
with traces of some spattered blood, once flowing through a vein -
with fruits of all the labour, lost... 'twas truly all in vain.
No souls appear with jagged tongues to sing a silent psalm
or paint pale lips with languid laughs to pierce the deathly calm -
they vanished quite a while ago, beneath a neutron bomb.
EPILOGUE
Beyond the Silent City's walls, the victors laugh and play...
They're celebrating PEACE ON EARTH, the devil's sobriquet
for neutron radiation death in places far away.
poem by Terry O'Leary
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Silent Night (feat. Cormac Breatnach & Martin Dunlea)
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night!
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Silent night, holy night!
Silent night, holy night!
song performed by by Vanessa Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night!
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Silent night, holy night!
Silent night, holy night!
song performed by by Vanessa Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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O silent night, O holy night, O night divine!
A silent night. It was a long, long silent night.
The hopes and dreams were lost for many years.
The sin's chains kept the cages full.
The wings were broken, nobody could fly,
The prophecies were forgotten, with no freedom in the sight.
O silent night, O holy night,
The hope is shining over the lost world, again.
The stars, filled with wonder,
join the angels clothed in light,
and sing a majestic song together.
At the break of dawn, at the edge of the village,
a Savior is born and laid in a manger.
O silent night, O holy night,
The King of Kings, a humble birth
Goodwill to men and peace on Earth!
Knees of clay pray in silence,
We bring gifts to the newborn King,
On the love's altar, the hearts are burning,
The souls grow wings and fly to kiss the heavens.
It snows slowly with flakes of blessings over the Earth,
The smiling Child has secretly given me a star.
I keep it forever in my heart to remind me of this Christmas Night.
It is mine. It shines, and it shines...
O silent night, O holy night, O night divine!
poem by Marius Alexandru (12 December 2020)
Submitted by anonym
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Nocturne III
One night
one night all full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings;
one night
in which fantastic fireflies burnt in the humid nuptial shadows,
slowly by my side, pressed altogether close, silent and pale,
as if a presentiment of infinite bitternesses
agitated you unto the most hidden fibers of your being,
along the flowering path which crosses the plain
you walked;
and the full moon
in the infinite and profound blue heavens scattered its white light;
and your shadow,
fine and languid,
and my shadow
projected by the rays of the moon,
upon the sorrowful sands
of the path, joined together;
and they became one,
and they became one,
and they became only one long shadow,
and they became only one long shadow,
and they became only one long shadow....
Tonight
alone; my soul
full of the infinite bitternesses and agonies of your death,
separated from you by time, by the tomb and by distance,
by the infinite blackness
where our voice cannot reach,
silent and alone
along the path I walked ...
And the barking of dogs at the moon could be heard,
at the pale moon,
and the chirping
of the frogs ...
I felt cold. It was the coldness that in your alcove
your cheeks and your temples and your adoréd hands possessed
within the snowy whiteness
of the mortuary sheets.
It was the coldness of the sepulcher, it was the ice of death,
it was the coldness of oblivion.
And my shadow,
projected by the rays of the moon,
walked alone,
walked alone,
walked alone along the solitary plain;
and your shadow, svelte and agile,
fine and languid,
as in that warm night of springtime death,
as in that night full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings,
approached and walked with mine,
approached and walked with mine,
approached and walked with mine ... Oh, the shadows intertwined!
Oh, the corporeal shadows united with the shadows of the souls!
Oh, the seeking shadows in those nights of sorrows and of tears!
poem by Jose Asuncion Silva
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Italian Scenery
Night rests in beauty on Mont Alto.
Beneath its shade the beauteous Arno sleeps
In vallombrosa's bosom, and dark trees
Bend with a calm and quiet shadow down
Upon the beauty of that silent river.
Still in the west a melancholy smile
Mantles the lips of day, and twilight pale
Moves like a spectre in the dusky sky,
While eve's sweet star on the fast-fading year
Smiles calmly. Music steals at intervals
Across the water, with a tremulous swell,
From out the upland dingle of tall firs;
And a faint footfall sounds, where, dim and dark,
Hangs the gray willow from the river's brink,
O'ershadowing its current. Slowly there
The lover's gondola drops down the stream,
Silent, save when its dipping oar is heard,
Or in its eddy sighs the rippling wave.
Mouldering and moss-grown through the lapse of years,
In motionless beauty stands the giant oak;
Whilst those that saw its green and flourishing youth
Are gone and are forgotten. Soft the fount,
Whose secret springs the star-light pale discloses,
Gushes in hollow music; and beyond
The broader river sweeps its silent way,
Mingling a silver current with that sea,
Whose waters have no tides, coming nor going.
On noiseless wing along that fair blue sea
The halcyon flits; and where the wearied storm
Left a loud moaning, all is peace again.
A calm is on the deep. The winds that came
O'er the dark sea-surge with a tremulous breathing,
And mourned on the dark cliff where weeds grew rank,
And to the autumnal death-dirge the deep sea
Heaved its long billows, with a cheerless song
Have passed away to the cold earth again,
Like a wayfaring mourner. Silently
Up from the calm sea's dim and distant verge,
Full and unveiled, the moon's broad disk emerges.
On Tivoli, and where the fairy hues
Of autumn glow upon Abruzzi's woods,
The silver light is spreading. Far above,
Encompassed with their thin, cold atmosphere,
The Apennines uplift their snowy brows,
Glowing with colder beauty, where unheard
The eagle screams in the fathomless, ether,
And stays his wearied wing. Here let us pause.
The spirit of these solitudes -- the soul
That dwells within these steep and difficult places--
Spearks a mysterious language to mine own,
And brings unutterable musings. Earth
Sleeps in the shades of nightfall, and the sea
Spreads like a thin blue haze beneath my feet;
Whilst the gray columns and the mouldering tombs
Of the Imperial City, hidden deep
Beneath the mantle of their shadows, rest.
My spirit looks on earth. A heavnly voice
Comes silently: 'Dreamer, is earth thy dwelling?
Lo! Nursed within that fair and fruitful bosom,
Which has sustained thy being, and within
The colder breast of Ocean, lie the germs
Of thine own dissolution! E'en the air,
That fans the clear blue sky, and gives thee strength,
Up from the sullen lake of mouldering reeds,
And the wide waste of forest, where the osier
Thrives in the damp and motionless atmosphere,
Shall bring the dire and wasting pestilence,
And blight they cheek. Dram thou of higher things:
This world is not thy home!' And yet my eye
Rests upon earth again. How beautiful,
Where wild Velino heaves its sullen aves
Down the high cliff of gray and shapeless granite,
Hung on the curling mist, the moonlight bow
Arches the perilous river! A soft light
Silvers the Albanian mountains, and the haze
That rests upon their summits mellows down
The austerer features of their beauty. Faint
And dim-discovered glow, the Sabine hills;
And, listening to the sea's monotonous shell,
High on the cliffs of Terracina stands
The castle of the royal Goth* in ruins.
But night is in her wane: day's early flush
Glows like a hectic on her fading cheek,
Wasting its beauty. And the opening dawn
With cheerful luster lights the royal city,
Where, with its proud tiara of dark towers,
It sleeps upon its own romantic bay.
poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Silent Night
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round your virgin
Mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm and bright
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
Silent night
Holy night
Son of god
Loves pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the down of redeeming grace
Jesus, lord at thy birth
Jesus, lord at thy birth
song performed by by Carpenters
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At The End Of The Day
AT THE END OF THE DAY
At the end of the day
A poem can come only
As silence.
In the quiet
And in the darkness outside
There is a promise
Of light from within.
Late at night
When all is dark
And the darkness too
Is no longer afraid
These silent words
Like a psalm
Sing holy holy holy
God is nigh.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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The Mighty Eye in a Brief Eclipse of Time
Umpteen billion years
Big Bang, supernova, gas
Brief eclipse of time
Gases swirling, fall
Sun and planets, water, life
Brief eclipse of time
Another billion
goo, amoeba, fishes swim
Brief eclipse of time
Movement, changes, flux
slither, crawl, climb, walk and talk
Brief eclipse of time
Ra, Sol, Helios,
Mithra and the Mighty Eye
Brief eclipse of time
Life begins and ends
birth, joy, laugh, cry, death, and dust
Brief eclipse of time
Waves cleave sea, shore, sky
enfolding, watching, listening
Brief eclipse of time
The Mighty Eye - unfocused, stained, diffuse -
began to slip and slowly sink,
while frizzled waves imbibed her searing tears,
with salted languid lips
The Mighty Eye was weary, thin,
peering through the frozen cracks,
as some straying clouds,
bloated,
floated feebly by
and waxed their billowed tracks
upon the heated sky,
and cooled the rush of rolling waves
beneath the blotted sky
The waves, they hung in time and space before me,
- gently tumbling aging pebbles
and lifeless shells across the shifting sands -
seemed unaware
as they once again began
to veil the Mighty Eye,
to close the Mighty Eye,
to blind the Mighty Eye
Or perhaps they really didn't care
For, as the frazzled froth is rushing forward,
slowly toward the sandy shores beyond,
to retreat and then to rush ahead again,
eternally,
it matters little if the Mighty Eye casts
her blazing glance from high above,
or else retires for the night,
kissed by liquid lips of distant faithless waves...
in a brief eclipse of time
The trees, they hung in time and space behind me -
trees... which in time before had swayed,
gently tugged by ocean breezes,
trees... which in time before were lightly lit
with emerald leaves,
trees... which in time before had reached to space above
with leafy fingers,
grasping fingers,
clutching fingers,
fingers drenched with golden tears
shed by the Mighty Eye
The trees, they hung in time and space,
frozen motionless behind me,
- chilled with rooted premonitions of the void -
their fingers clutching darkness
and their leaves foreboding doom
The muted winds began to whisper tales
of many frightened things,
which, with mournful apprehension,
had ceased their joyful play
And all the while dank shadows gaily danced
a dismal dance,
for their time was soon to come
The fitful shore was suddenly still
Unfeeling stones and hollow shells,
were paused a little,
stalled,
and dropped haphazardly,
midst mindless random journey,
and abandoned by the sea
For fickle waves had slipped away to greet a falling prey
And as the Mighty Eye drooped lower,
laminated molten lips
pursed and puckered higher,
sucking in the sky
Within a trice the Mighty Eye
was swollen red,
perhaps tormented by the thoughts of premature demise,
or being lashed beneath a lid of distant faithless waves
And as a dying flash dissolved,
two lurid lips arose,
three lusty lips...
a thousand parted limpid lips which, quickly,
though with little haste,
consumed the Mighty Eye
The trees were then but lurking shades
amongst the murky shadows
Relentless fog seeped slowly by,
her floating tongues dripped silence as she passed
The lacerated savage lips had once again returned
to kiss
the vacant vapid shores...
in a brief eclipse of time
poem by Terry O'Leary
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Silent Night
(arranged by reba mcentire)
(whats written in sentences and not verse at the beginning is what
Reba
Explains at the beginning, the rest is the song)
On christmas eve in 1818
A blizzard stranded the tiny village of ogledorf
Nestled in the austrian mountains
That same day the people of st. nicholas church found their organ
Broken
So the priest and organist began composing a song that could be sung
Without
An organ yet beautiful enough to express their christmas joy
All day and all night long they worked
And at midnight the gentle carol silent night was born
The pure clear tones echoed through the hills
And the world has been captured by the beauty of that simple song ever
Since.
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin
Mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night
Holy night
Shepeards pray at the sight
Glory streams from heaven afar
Heavenly ? sing hallelujah
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
And all is bright
Round yon virgin
Mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night
Holy night
Sleep in heavenly peace
song performed by by Reba Mcentire
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night...
Silent night, our discovery night
When concentration was limited to our world
The passion was embraced by the night
And we spoke our minds without a spoken word.
Silent night, our wanton night
A night of sneaky, invisible touches
Your touch illuminated an emotional light
Especially your sweet, silent smooches.
Silent night, when we had our sweet fight
How could I forget that sweet harassment?
When your kisses took me to a greater height
And your embrace gave me a life imprisonment.
Silent night, a night so long
We interacted with just our hands
Your full-lips tickled my searching tongue
With your smooches, love confirmed my plans.
Silent night, our special night
It wasn’t by money, but by might
Crying in silence, we were drowned in delight
With silent kisses, we maximized our silent night.
poem by Vyktor Ekott
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Winter-Solitude
I saw the city's towers on a luminous pale-gray sky;
Beyond them a hill of the softest mistiest green,
With naught but frost and the coming of night between,
And a long thin cloud above the colour of August rye.
I sat in the midst of a plain on my snowshoes with bended knee
Where the thin wind stung my cheeks,
And the hard snow ran in little ripples and peaks,
Like the fretted floor of a white and petrified sea.
And a strange peace gathered about my soul and shone,
As I sat reflecting there,
In a world so mystically fair,
So deathly silent--I so utterly alone.
poem by Archibald Lampman
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Silent Night
Silent night
holy night
all is calm
all is bright
round your virgin
mother and child
holy infant so tender and mild
sleep in heavenly peace
sleep in heavenly peace
silent night
holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia!
Christ the Saviour is born
Christ the Saviour is born
silent night
holy night
Son of God, love's pure light;
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
song performed by by Ashanti
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Christmas Time Again
Silent night
holy night
all is calm and
all is bright
round your virgin
mother and child
holy infant so tender and mild
sleep in heavenly peace
sleep in heavenly peace
silent night
holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia!
Christ the Saviour is born
Christ the Saviour is born
silent night
holy night
Son of God, love's pure light;
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
song performed by by Ashanti
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
song performed by by Carly Simon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night
(j. mohe/f. gurber)
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
round you virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night
Holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly host sing alleluia
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
Silent night
Holy night
Son of god, loves pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, lord, at thy birth
Jesus, lord, at thy birth
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night
(Joseph MoreFranz GruberBrian Ahern)
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavely hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Saviour, is born!
Christ the Saviour, is born!
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
song performed by by Emmylou Harris
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Silent Night
Silent night
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
Silent night, holy night
Son of god
Loves pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus lord at thy birth
Jesus lord at thy birth
Jesus lord at thy birth
Jesus lord at thy birth
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
song performed by by Jewel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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There was a Child Once
There was a child once.
He came to play in my garden;
He was quite pale and silent.
Only when he smiled I knew everything about him,
I knew what he had in his pockets,
And I knew the feel of his hands in my hands
And the most intimate tones of his voice.
I led him down each secret path,
Showing him the hiding-place of all my treasures.
I let him play with them, every one,
I put my singing thoughts in a little silver cage
And gave them to him to keep...
It was very dark in the garden
But never dark enough for us. On tiptoe we walked
among the deepest shades;
We bathed in the shadow pools beneath the trees,
Pretending we were under the sea.
Once--near the boundary of the garden--
We heard steps passing along the World-road;
O how frightened we were!
I whispered: "Have you ever walked along that road?"
He nodded, and we shook the tears from our eyes....
There was a child once.
He came--quite alone--to play in my garden;
He was pale and silent.
When we met we kissed each other,
But when he went away, we did not even wave
poem by Katherine Mansfield
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Silent Night
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin
Mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night
Holy night
Son of god
Loves pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus lord at thy birth
Jesus lord at thy birth
Silent night
Holy night
Wondrous star
Led by light
With the angels
Let us sing
Hallelujah to our king
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
song performed by by Air Supply
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Soul's Quest
PART I
IN the land that is neither night nor day,
Where the mists sleep over the forests grey,
A sad, sad spirit wandered away.
The woods are still—no brooks, no wind,
No fair green meadows can she find;
5
But a low red light in the sky behind.
Far over the plain, to the spirit's sight,
The city's towers are black as night,
Against the edge of the low red light.
This side the city in darkness lies,
10
But westward, at the glowering skies,
It glares with a thousand fiery eyes.
The road is long, the hedgerows bare,
There's the chill of death in the silent air,
And a glimmer of darkness everywhere.
15
'O sad, sad spirit, what thy quest,
With those flowing locks and that shadowy vest? '
The spirit answers, 'I seek for rest.'
'Where seekest rest, when the air is cold
On the long, dim road, and the clock hath tolled
20
The muffled hours form the belfry old?
'Where seekest rest through the twilight grey
Of the mists that sleep on the woods alway? '—
'I seek to-morrow or yesterday! '
Her face is pale, her feet are bare,
25
Her sad dark eyes, wide open, stare
At the glimmering darkness everywhere.
To those cheeks no rose hath summer brought,
But on their pallor time hath wrought
The troubled lines of an after-thought.
30
Her arms are crossed upon her breast,
Her round limbs shape the shadowy vest,
And thus, all silent, seeks she rest.
Her tread is light on the cold, hard road;
For the tread may be light, yet heavy the load
35
Of grief at the heart and thoughts that goad.
She plucks a leaf from the roadway side,
And under its shade two violets hide—
As if from her cold touch, they hide.
She twines the violets in her hair;
40
They have no scent—she does not care,
For the glimmer of darkness is everywhere.
And on through the dim of the twilight grey,
While the pale sky gloweth far away,
She seeks to-morrow or yesterday.
45
PART II
'O Abbess, Abbess, the air is chill!
I heard the chaunting over the hill,
Like an angel's voice when the soul is still.
'O, Abbess, open wide thy gate!
Out on the cold, dim road I wait,
50
A spirit lone and desolate.
'Take thou these hands and these weary feet,
Cold as a corpse in its winding-sheet,
For the song of the nuns was so strange and sweet.
'Here with the sisters let me dwell,
55
Under these walls, in the loneliest cell,
Waiting the sound of the matin bell.
'Cut off these locks of flowing hair,
Cover with weeds this bosom bare,
For the glimmer of darkness is everywhere.
60
'Ask not my name, nor whence my way,
For the mist sleeps over the wood alway,
And I seek to-morrow or yesterday.'
She's passed beneath the chapel door;
The nuns are kneeling on the floor,
65
But a low wind moaneth evermore.
Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing,
Till high in the roof the echoes ring,
For they know that God is listening.
'Ave Maria, hear our cry,
70
As the shadows roll across the sky,
For those that live and those that die!
'Ave Maria, Virgin blest,
Help the sin-stained and distrest,
Give the weary-hearted rest!
75
'Ave Maria, who didst bear
Jesus in this world of care,
Grant us all thy bliss to share! '
Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing,
From arch to arch the echoes ring,
80
For they know that God is listening.
Out of the north the oceans roll,
Washing the lands from pole to pole:
No rest—no rest for the old world's soul.
The after-glow of suns that set
85
O'er fields with morning dew once wet,
Where all life's flowering roadways met,
Long shadows of our joys has sent,
Sloping adown the way we went
Towards darkness where our feet are bent.
90
Is it the moan of the evening wind?
Or the voice of the ocean in the mind,
While the pale red light looms up behind?
Is it moan of wind, or convent bell,
Or cry of the ocean? I cannot tell;
95
But a voice in her heart has locked the spell.
She does not hear the organ's swell;
In vain she strives her beads to tell,
For a voice in her heart has locked the spell.
She broods among the tangled fears,
100
The undergrowth of perished years,
That darken round the lake of tears.
Silent and dank, they fringe the brim
Of waters motionless and dim,
Unmoved by wings of Seraphim.
105
No lights on the altar the spirit sees,
The cloistered aisles are but leafless trees,
And the music, the sigh of the evening breeze.
No matin or vesper bell for her;
The leafless branches never stir
110
In the pale, pale light of the days that were.
No matin or vesper hymn or prayer
Can shut those eyes' wide-open stare
At the glimmering darkness everywhere.
The sweetest singing dies away;
115
No note of birds for those who stray
In the land that is neither night nor day.
PART III
In the shadowy light of the silent land,
With the tall gaunt hedges on either hand,
On the long, dim road doth the spirit stand.
120
Under the hedges the air is chill,
And the mists sleep over the forest still,
And are folded like wings on the sides of the hill.
Her arms are crossed upon her breast,
Her round limbs shape the shadowy vest,
125
Her feet are worn with seeking rest.
To her cheeks no rose hath summer brought,
While on their pallor time hath wrought
The troubled lines of an after-thought.
But sweet is the gaze of those sad dark eyes,
130
And sweet their look of mute surprise,
As something in the road she spies.
Spurned under foot, o'ergrown with moss,
Counted of foolish men but loss,
On the cold, hard road lies Jesus' cross.
135
In the dim twilight as she stood,
She saw the marks of Jesus' Blood,
Then stooped and kissed the Holy Rood.
There are sounds of joy from the years gone by,
There's a pale red light in the forward sky,
140
And a star looks down through the mist on high.
Hush! for the light falls clear from that star,
Hush! for the day-dawn kindles afar,
Hush! for the gate of the sky is ajar.
What is the voice of the boundless sea
145
As it clasps the lands excitedly?
Not the voice of the dead, but of what shall be—
Of what shall be when the world shall cease,
And oceans die in the reign of peace,
When God grants pardon and release.
150
O sweetest taste of Jesus' Blood!
Joy bursts upon her like a flood;
The spirit kisseth Holy Rood.
A low wind moaneth evermore,
The nuns still kneel upon the floor,
155
But Jesus trod this way before.
She lifts the sacred emblem up:
This was His drink, His bitter cup;
And all His loved with Him must sup.
Beneath its arms she bows her head,
160
Those arms so rudely fashionèd,
Which Jesus made His dying bed.
She bends beneath the cross's weight,
But now no longer desolate,
She stands before the convent gate.
165
Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing,
From arch and roof the echoes ring,
While God above is listening.
'Ave Maria, Virgin blest,
Help the sin-stained and distrust,
170
Grant the weary-hearted rest! '
The altar-lights are shining fair,
And Jesus' cross is standing there;
The darkness brightens everywhere.
In silent bliss the spirit kneels,
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For mortal utterance half conceals
The deepest joy the bosom feels.
She bears her burden day by day;
It wakens her at morning grey,
And calms her at eve's setting ray.
180
She bears it through the length of years;
The rough wood drives away her fears,
The blood-stains check all earthly tears.
Through daily round of deed and psalm,
She moves in silent strength and calm,
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The cross her solace and her balm.
She bears it round from door to door,
And lonely hearts that ached before,
Find joy and peace for evermore.
So in the present, people say,
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Of holy deed and prayer alway,
She finds to-morrow and yesterday.
poem by Frederick George Scott
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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