Poems (Jordan)/The Silent Side
THE SILENT SIDE
The Silent Side of Life! If it were given voice,And hushed were all the tongues of Time's distracting Noise,—I wonder if the bad were louder than the good,Or if God's patience were the better understood?If Life's deep wounds might speak, from out their crimson lips,What stories would we list the melancholy drips?What stories would we list the seamed and callous scarWhich, while it shows wounds healed, proclaims they never are?If heard the many tools, wielded by CircumstanceIn building altars for victims of Ignorance,Would we furnish fagots, or would our righteous ireMake of those ready laid Slander's own fun'ral pyre?If Joy's sweet songs were heard, might not the splash of tears[;Be muffled in the music made by passing years?If vocal were the meanings, held by Patience mute,Might not Praise with Censure the judgment throne dispute?Dumb Honor—dreaded not by Malice, or her arts—And white-lipped agonies, shelt'ring in bravest hearts,Could tell of things for which no language has a mold,Of clean Christ-tombs, from whence the stones are yet unrolled!