Poems (Jordan)/How Oft
HOW OFT
How oft we speak to interrupt the Silences, And hand seeketh to hand lest Feeling come too close!How sternly measure we all surface distances When shapeless Space between our hearts the wider grows!
How oft by frank confession aid we Truth to hide, And, furnishing too many, leave no signal trace!How oft, by flinging all its other doors awide, We close the one unto our soul's most secret place!
How oft we fix our gaze on Life's thin masks, that so We may not see the faces which are wearing them!How constantly we think, lest we shall come to know;— List laughter, lest we hear Hope's sound less requiem!