Taught by Solitude

Under the stars were watching Shepherds shown
     The sign of man’s Redemption, and were led
     By one bright herald to the natal bed
Of Mary’s wondrous Boy. To manhood grown
He sought the hungry wilderness alone,
     And trampling down Temptation in the dread,
     Long ordeal “Behind me Satan!” he said
To fame, power, wealth, the kingdom and the throne.

Aloft in Sinai’s awful solitudes
     The God of Israel gave the eternal Law
To his veiled Prophet! In Dodona’s woods
     The Sibylline priestess her weird vision saw,
Thus out of darkness and the desert come
The words that rule the World, and hold the listener dumb.
Wisdom is born of Silence, in the heart
     Of lonely places, or on mountains peaks.
     Where but the tempest and the eagle shrieks,
Or in the solemn forest far apart
From low ambition and the worldling’s art;
     For there the Spirit to our spirit speaks
     In tones inaudible to him who seeks
His life-law only in the noisy mart
Though born of Silence she will not abide
     In cave and cloister, but her clear voice rings
Above the tumult of the world, to guide
     Truth’s mailed defenders, the anointed kings
Of daring thought, and cheer the souls obscure
Of her mute lovers who live to make all Life more pure!