Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges (1762-1837). Echo and Silence. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1909. The Book of Georgian Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.

Echo and Silence

By Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges (1762–1837)


IN eddying course when leaves began to fly,
And autumn in her lap the stores to strew,
As ’mid wild scenes I chanced the muse to woo
Thro’ glens untrod, and woods that frown’d on high,
Two sleeping nymphs, with wonder mute I spy:—	5
And lo! she’s gone—in robe of dark green hue
’Twas Echo from her sister Silence flew:
For quick the hunter’s horn resounded to the sky.
In shade affrighted Silence melts away.
Not so her sister. Hark! for onward still	10
With far-heard step she takes her listening way,
Bounding from rock to rock, and hill to hill:
Ah! mark the merry maid, in mocking play,
With thousand mimic tones the laughing forest fill.