Poems (Procter)/Unseen

by Adelaide Anne Procter

UNSEEN.

HERE are more things in Heaven and Earth than weCan dream of or than Nature understands;We learn not through our poor philosophyWhat hidden chords are touched by unseen hands

The present hour repeats upon its stringsEchoes of some vague dream we have forgot;Dim voices whisper half-remembered things,And when we pause to listen—answer not.

Forebodings come: we know not how, or whence,Shadowing a nameless fear upon the soul,And stir within our hearts a subtler senseThan light may read, or wisdom may control.

And who can tell what secret links of thoughtBind heart to heart? Unspoken things are heard,As if within our deepest selves was broughtThe soul, perhaps, of some unuttered word.

But, though a veil of shadow hangs betweenThat hidden life and what we see and hear,Let us revere the power of the Unseen,And know a world of mystery is near.