Sidney Lanier

“ As a lover in heaven, the marsh my marsh and the sea my sea.
Tell me, sweet burly-bark'd, man-bodied Tree
That mine arms in the dark are embracing, dost know
From what fount are these tears at thy feet which flow?
They rise not from reason, but deeper inconsequent deeps.
⁠Reason's not one that weeps.
⁠What logic of greeting lies
Betwixt dear over-beautiful trees and the rain of the eyes?
O cunning green leaves, little masters! ”

“ And ever my heart through the night shall with knowledge abide thee,
And ever by day shall my spirit, as one that hath tried thee,
⁠Labor, at leisure, in art,—till yonder beside thee
⁠My soul shall float, friend Sun,
⁠The day being done. ”

“ That out of the leaves of the low-hanging bough,
⁠As I pass to the beach, art stirred?
⁠Dumb woods, have ye uttered a bird?
*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠* Reverend Marsh, low-couched along the sea,
⁠Old chemist, rapt in alchemy,
⁠Distilling silence,—lo,
That which our father-age had died to know—
⁠The menstruum that dissolves all matter—thou
Hast found it; for this silence, filling now
The globèd clarity of receiving space,
This solves us all: man, matter, doubt, disgrace,
Death, love, sin, sanity,
Must in yon silence' clear solution lie. ”