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(And silent oft it seems, when silent it is not)
Revivals too of unexpected change:
Haply thou think'st 'twill never he begun,
Or that 't has come, and been, and past away;
Yet turn to other none,—
Turn not, oh, turn not thou!
But listen, listen, listen,—if haply he heard it may;
Listen, listen, listen,—is it not sounding now?
III.
By death or distance parted will descend,
Severing, in crowded rooms ablaze with light,
As by a magic screen, the seër from the sight,
(Palsying the nerves that intervene
The eye and central sense between;)
So may the ear,
Hearing, not hear,
Though drums do roll, and pipes and cymbals ring;
So the bare conscience of the better thing
Unfelt, unseen, unimaged, all unknown,
May fix the entrancèd soul mid multitudes alone.
