| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 793. Silence |
| | | By James Herbert Morse |
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| COME, Silence, thou sweet reasoner, | |
| Lay thy soft hand on all that stir— | |
| On grass and shrub and tree and flower, | |
| And let this be thine own dear hour. | |
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| No more across the neighbor rill | 5 |
| To that lone cottage on the hill | |
| Shall wonder with her questions go, | |
| Seeking if joy be there or no. | |
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| No longer shall the listening ear | |
| Go seeking grief afar, or near; | 10 |
| Or eye be turned to find a stain | |
| In the dear God’s well-ruled domain. | |
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| The cricket tunes his slender throat | |
| And lifts an early evening note. | |
| The late bird ventures one last flight | 15 |
| Of song, and nestles for the night. | |
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| High up beyond the cloud-rift dun | |
| One spot of blue yet shows the sun; | |
| On that I fix a silent eye: | |
| All earth, all life, all else pass by. | 20 |
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