Poems and sonnets of Louise Chandler Moulton / [by Louise Chandler Moulton] [electronic text]

IX.
A SILENT VOICE.

THEY bid me welcome in the proud New Year, Crowned with delight, his Minister the Sun— Monarch, whose sumptuous reign has just begun: Nay, I am deaf—their shouts I do not hear—I miss a voice that long ago was dear; A tender voice, whose lightest call had won My ear, my heart, my life, till life were done:— That voice is silent—theirs I will not hear.

A little bird that finds the winter cold Comes out, and looks at me, and sings of him Who made the vanished summers warm; and, bold With sorrow, calls the New Year's splendor dim. Nay, bird, he is gone far who used to sing; And days, and months, and years no message bring.