Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON BEING DEAF by NAN FITZ-PATRICK

First Line: I LIVE WITHIN A TOWERED SILENCE WHERE
Last Line: ACROSS THE ANTHEMS HALLOWING YOUR FACE.
Subject(s): DEAFNESS;
I live within a towered silence where
The sound of neither pain nor joy intrudes;
Where earthy covetous ambitions dare
Not dominate and dreary platitudes
Cannot assail. Sense may not be implored
By strings of sighing violins,
By weird vibrations of a vocal cord,
Nor detonations beat on tightened skins.

But I know wild arpeggios played by wind
On tempest clouds; the andantino song
Of moonlight over waves when fog has thinned;
And pastorals the stars invent along
The sky. These silent melodies I trace
Across the anthems hallowing your face.



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