Sonnet: “The irresponsive silence of the land”

THE IRRESPONSIVE silence of the land,

The irresponsive sounding of the sea,

Speak both one message of one sense to me:—

‘Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof; so stand

Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band

Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;

But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?

What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand?’

And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,

And sometimes I remember days of old

When fellowship seemed not so far to seek

And all the world and I seemed much less cold,

And at the rainbow’s foot lay surely gold,

And hope felt strong and life itself not weak.