Silence
My father used to say,
"Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow's grave
nor the glass flowers at Harvard.
Self reliant like the cat --
that takes its prey to privacy,
the mouse's limp tail hanging like a shoelace from its mouth --
they sometimes enjoy solitude,
and can be robbed of speech
by speech which has delighted them.
The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;
not in silence, but restraint."
Nor was he insincere in saying, "`Make my house your inn'."
Inns are not residences.
Notes
1] "My father used to say: a remark in conversation; Miss A. M. Homans, Professor Emeritus of Hygiene, Wellesley College. `My father used to say, "superior people never make long visits, then people are not so glad when you've gone." When I am visiting, I like to go about by myself. I never had to be shown Longfellow's grave nor the glass flowers at Harvard.'" [Moore's note, p. 105]
3] Longfellow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, US poet (1807-82).
13] "`Make my house your inn': Edmund Burke to a stranger with whom he had fallen into conversation in a bookshop. Life of Burke: James Prior; `"Throw yourself into a coach," said he. "Come down and make my house your inn."'" [Moore's note, p. 105]
_____________________
What Are Years?
What is our innocence,
what is our guilt? All are
naked, none is safe. And whence
is courage: the unanswered question,
the resolute doubt, -
dumbly calling, deafly listening-that
in misfortune, even death,
encourage others
and in it's defeat, stirs
the soul to be strong? He
sees deep and is glad, who
accededs to mortality
and in his imprisonment rises
upon himself as
the sea in a chasm, struggling to be
free and unable to be,
in its surrendering
finds its continuing.
So he who strongly feels,
behaves. The very bird,
grown taller as he sings, steels
his form straight up. Though he is captive,
his mighty singing
says, satisfaction is a lowly
thing, how pure a thing is joy.
This is mortality,
this is eternity.
My father used to say,
"Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow's grave
nor the glass flowers at Harvard.
Self reliant like the cat --
that takes its prey to privacy,
the mouse's limp tail hanging like a shoelace from its mouth --
they sometimes enjoy solitude,
and can be robbed of speech
by speech which has delighted them.
The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;
not in silence, but restraint."
Nor was he insincere in saying, "`Make my house your inn'."
Inns are not residences.
Notes
1] "My father used to say: a remark in conversation; Miss A. M. Homans, Professor Emeritus of Hygiene, Wellesley College. `My father used to say, "superior people never make long visits, then people are not so glad when you've gone." When I am visiting, I like to go about by myself. I never had to be shown Longfellow's grave nor the glass flowers at Harvard.'" [Moore's note, p. 105]
3] Longfellow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, US poet (1807-82).
13] "`Make my house your inn': Edmund Burke to a stranger with whom he had fallen into conversation in a bookshop. Life of Burke: James Prior; `"Throw yourself into a coach," said he. "Come down and make my house your inn."'" [Moore's note, p. 105]
_____________________
What Are Years?
What is our innocence,
what is our guilt? All are
naked, none is safe. And whence
is courage: the unanswered question,
the resolute doubt, -
dumbly calling, deafly listening-that
in misfortune, even death,
encourage others
and in it's defeat, stirs
the soul to be strong? He
sees deep and is glad, who
accededs to mortality
and in his imprisonment rises
upon himself as
the sea in a chasm, struggling to be
free and unable to be,
in its surrendering
finds its continuing.
So he who strongly feels,
behaves. The very bird,
grown taller as he sings, steels
his form straight up. Though he is captive,
his mighty singing
says, satisfaction is a lowly
thing, how pure a thing is joy.
This is mortality,
this is eternity.
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