The Quiet Earth

This quiet earth shall wear You continually— Though all its forms are unappeasing, Though all its tones are scarce appeased, It shall show out its beauty with quietness. For yesterday, I trod the haunted glades, And saw the hallowed shadows fill the woods, Where summer made her quiet passages, And twilight, with its subtle, softening touch, Melted the cleft skies into streaming pearls, Stirred the wooded depths and loosed A thousand flitting flecks from leaves. All weary creatures lay down their rests And taught their loves sweet rest.

So shall it stoop down to the traveler, Flashing on your eyes the gems of silence, Loveliness folded in each tone and hue. Oh, let me linger here—time slips away— And twilight shrouds the shadows of the day.

This calm and ancient earth shall timelessly Give you its silent, unquiet treasures, Where Time keeps ever turning page by page And Beauty speaks the truths of all.

• Thomas Wentworth Higginson