The Precept of Silence

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  I know you: solitary griefs,
  Desolate passions, aching hours!
  I know you: tremulous beliefs,
  Agonised hopes, and ashen flowers!

  The winds are sometimes sad to me;
  The starry spaces, full of fear:
  Mine is the sorrow on the sea,
  And mine the sigh of places drear.

  Some players upon plaintive strings
  Publish their wistfulness abroad:
  I have not spoken of these things,
  Save to one man, and unto God.

© Lionel Pigot Johnson