silence

there is a silence where has been no sound

there is a silence where no sound may be

in the cold grave - under the deep, deep sea

or in the wide desert where no life is found...

which has been mute and still must sleep profound

no voice is hushed - no life treads silently

but clouds and cloudy shadows wander free

that never spoke, over the idle ground...

but in green ruins, in the desolated walls

of antique palaces where man has been

though the dun fox or wild hyena calls

and owls, that flid continually between

shriek to the echo and the cow winds moan -

there the true silence is,

self-consciousness and alone...

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