Silence and Stealth of Days

 Silence, and stealth of days! 'tis now 
Since thou art gone, 
Twelve hundred hours, and not a brow 
But clouds hang on. 
As he that in some cave's thick damp 
Lockt from the light, 
Fixeth a solitary lamp, 
To brave the night, 
And walking from his sun, when past 
That glim'ring ray 
Cuts through the heavy mists in haste 
Back to his day, 
So o'r fled minutes I retreat 
Unto that hour 
Which show'd thee last, but did defeat 
Thy light, and power, 
I search, and rack my soul to see 
Those beams again, 
But nothing but the snuff to me 
Appeareth plain; 
That dark and dead sleeps in its known 
And common urn, 
But those fled to their Maker's throne 
There shine and burn; 
O could I track them! but souls must 
Track one the other, 
And now the spirit, not the dust, 
Must be thy brother. 
Yet I have one Pearl by whose light 
All things I see, 
And in the heart of earth and night 
Find heaven and thee.

Form: Elegy Comments

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