Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | IV. Inland Waters: Highlands | | The Silence of the Hills | | William Prescott Foster (b. 1856) |
| | | THE WINDY forest, rousing from its sleep, | |
| Voices its heart in hoarse Titanic roar; | |
| The ocean bellows from its rocky shore; | |
| The cataract, that haunts the rugged steep, | |
| Makes mighty music in its headlong leap; | 5 |
| The clouds have voices, and the rivers pour | |
| Their floods in thunder down to ocean’s floor;— | |
| The hills alone mysterious silence keep. | |
| They cannot rend the ancient chain that bars | |
| Their iron lips, nor answer back the sea | 10 |
| That calls to them far off in vain; the stars | |
| They cannot hail, nor their wild brooks. Ah me! | |
| What cries from out their stony hearts will break, | |
| In God’s great day, when all that sleep shall wake! | | | | |
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