第80章 Substitution

WHEN some beloved voice that was to you Both sound and sweetness, faileth suddenly, And silence, against which you dare not cry, Aches round you like a strong disease and new-- What hope ? what help ? what music will undo That silence to your sense ? Not friendships sigh, Not reasons subtle count; not melody

Of viols, nor of pipes that Faunus blew; Not songs of poets, nor of nightingales Whose hearts leap upward through the cypress-trees To the clear moon; nor yet the spheric laws Self-chanted, nor the angels sweet All hails, Met in the smile of God: nay, none of these. Speak THOU, availing Christ !--and fill this pause.