The Voiceless

We count the broken lyres that rest   Where the sweet wailing singers slumber, But o’er their silent sister’s breast   The wild-flowers who will stoop to number? A few can touch the magic string,   And noisy Fame is proud to win them:— Alas for those that never sing,   But die with all their music in them! Nay, grieve not for the dead alone   Whose song has told their hearts’ sad story,— Weep for the voiceless, who have known   The cross without the crown of glory! Not where Leucadian breezes sweep   O’er Sappho’s memory-haunted billow, But where the glistening night-dews weep   On nameless sorrow’s churchyard pillow. O hearts that break and give no sign   Save whitening lip and fading tresses, Till Death pours out his longed-for wine   Slow-dropped from Misery’s crushing presses,— If singing breath or echoing chord   To every hidden pang were given, What endless melodies were poured,   As sad as earth, as sweet as heaven!