Littell's Living Age/Volume 151/Issue 1952/"The Irresponsive Land"

irresponsive silence of the land, The irresponsive soundings of the sea, Speak both one message of one sense to me: — Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof: so stand Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band Of inner solitude; we bind, not thee; But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free? What heart shall teach thy heart? what hand thy hand? — And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek, And sometimes I remember days of old, When fellowship seemed not so far to seek, And all the world and I seemed much less cold, And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold, And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak.