Clark Ashton Smith

“ There is a silence in the world
Since we have said farewell;
And beauty with an alien speech
An alien tale would tell.
There is a silence in the world,
Which is not peace nor quiet:
Ever I seek to flee therefrom,
And walk the ways of riot.
But when I hear the music moan
In rooms of thronging laughter,
A tongueless demon drives me forth,
And silence follows after.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1923, before the cutoff of January 1, 1928. ”