The silent trees above my head The silent pathway at my feet Shame me when here I dare to tread Accompanied by thoughts unmeet. "Alas!" they seem to say, "have we In speechless patience travailed long Only at last to bring forth thee, A creature void of speech or song? "Only in thee can Nature know Herself, find utterance and a tongue To tell her rapture and her woe, And yet of her thou hast not sung. "Thy mind with trivial notions rife Beholds the pomp of night and day, The winds and clouds and seas at strife, Uncaring, and hath naught to say." O Man, with destiny so great, With years so few to make it good, Such fooling in the eyes of fate May well give speech to stones and wood! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING BLIZZARD by JAMES GALVIN JULY IN GEORGY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON UNDER THE CEDARCROFT CHESTNUT by SIDNEY LANIER WITH CHAOS IN EACH KISS by TIMOTHY LIU SURFACES AND MASKS; 30 by CLARENCE MAJOR TO A MAN WORKING HIS WAY THROUGH THE CROWD by MARIANNE MOORE |