ODE TO SILENCE
For pilgrims,—Herakles,
And he that loved Euridice too well,
Have walked therein; and many more than these;
And witnessed the desire and the despair
Of souls that passed reluctantly and sieken for
the air;
You, too, have entered Hell,
And issued thence; but thence whereof I speak
None has returned;-for thither fury brings
Only the driven ghosts of them that flee before
all things.
Oblivion is the name of this abode: and she is
there."
Oh, radiant Song! Oh, gracious Memory!
Be long upon this height
83
