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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 9. A SILENT VOICE by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON

Poet Analysis

First Line: THEY BID ME WELCOME IN THE PROUD NEW YEAR
Last Line: AND DAYS, AND MONTHS, AND YEARS NO MESSAGE BRING.
Subject(s): SILENCE;

THEY bid me welcome in the proud New Year,
Crowned with delight, his Minister the Sun --
Monarch, whose sumptuous reign has just begun:
Nay, I am deaf -- their shouts I do not hear --
I miss a voice that long ago was dear;
A tender voice, whose lightest call had won
My ear, my heart, my life, till life were done: --
That voice is silent -- theirs I will not hear.

A little bird that finds the winter cold
Comes out, and looks at me, and sings of him
Who made the vanished summers warm; and, bold
With sorrow, calls the New Year's splendor dim.
Nay, bird, he is gone far who used to sing;
And days, and months, and years no message bring.







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