| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Thomas Hood. 1798–1845 |
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| 648. Silence |
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| THERE is a silence where hath been no sound, | |
| There is a silence where no sound may be, | |
| In the cold grave—under the deep, deep sea, | |
| Or in wide desert where no life is found, | |
| Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound; | 5 |
| No voice is hush'd—no life treads silently, | |
| But clouds and cloudy shadows wander free, | |
| That never spoke, over the idle ground: | |
| But in green ruins, in the desolate walls | |
| Of antique palaces, where Man hath been, | 10 |
| Though the dun fox or wild hyæna calls, | |
| And owls, that flit continually between, | |
| Shriek to the echo, and the low winds moan— | |
| There the true Silence is, self-conscious and alone. | |
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