 | Household Verses |  |
58
SONNET,
TO JOB'S THREE FRIENDS.
However ye might err in after
speech,
The mute expression of that voiceless woe
Whereby ye sought your sympathy to show
With him of Uz—doth eloquently preach!
Teaching a lesson it were well to teach
Some comforters—of utterance less slow,
Prone to believe that they more promptly know
Grief's mighty depths, and by their words can reach.
“Seven days and nights,,” in stillness as profound
As that of Chaos, patiently ye sate
By the heart-stricken and the desolate!
And though your sympathy might fail to sound
The fathomless depth of his dark spirit's wound,
Not less your silence was sublimely great!
The mute expression of that voiceless woe
Whereby ye sought your sympathy to show
With him of Uz—doth eloquently preach!
Teaching a lesson it were well to teach
Some comforters—of utterance less slow,
Prone to believe that they more promptly know
Grief's mighty depths, and by their words can reach.
“Seven days and nights,,” in stillness as profound
As that of Chaos, patiently ye sate
By the heart-stricken and the desolate!
And though your sympathy might fail to sound
The fathomless depth of his dark spirit's wound,
Not less your silence was sublimely great!
| Household Verses | |