SONG OF THE SILENT LAND. FROM THE GERMAN OF SALIS. INTO the Silent Land! Ah! who shall lead us thither! Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather, And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand. Who leads us with a gentle hand, Thither, O thither, Into the Silent Land? Into the Silent Land! To you, ye boundless regions Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions Of beauteous souls! Eternity's own band! Who in Life's battle firm doth stand, Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms Into the Silent Land! O Land O Land! For all the broken-hearted The mildest herald by our fate allotted, Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand To lead us with a gentle hand Into the land of the great Departed, Into the Silent Land! L'ENVOI. YE voices, that arose After the Evening's close, And whispered to my restless heart, Repose! Go, breathe it in the ear Of all who doubt and fear, And say to them, Be of good cheer! Ye sounds, so low and calm, That in the groves of balm Seemed to me like an angel's psalm! Go, mingle yet once more Of the pine forest, dark and hoar! Tongues of the dead, not lost, Glimmer, as funeral lamps, Amid the chills and damps Of the vast plain where Death encamps! |