Adoration

Ah, if you worship anything,     In deepest hush of silence bend     The lone adoring knee,     And only silence bring     Into the sanctuary.     Trust not the fairest word     Your soul to wrong:     Even the Rose's bird     Hath not a song     Sweet as the silence     Round about the Rose.     Ah, something goes,     Fails, and is lost in speech     That silence knows.     How should I speak     The hush about my heart     That holds your name     Shrined in a burning core     Of central flame,     Like names of seraphim     Mystically writ on cloud?     To speak your name aloud     Were to unhallow     Such a holy thing;     Therefore I bring     To your white feet     And your immortal eyes     Silence forever,     But in such a wise     Am silent as the quiet waters are,     Hiding some holy star     Amid hushed lilies     In a secret lake.     Ah, if a ripple break     The stillness halcyon -     The star is gone!