The New Hampshire Gazette

POETRY.

From the Token for 1832.

STANZAS.

On viewing the Asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hartford, Conn.

BY GRENVILLE MELLEN.

And in thy silence was his sentence.—Prometheus.

There stand forever! God will bear thee up.
While lesser things of earth shall pass away
So sure his mercy still to crown the cup,
The bitterest cup of human destiny!
Joy! that a flame in noble heart is left,
To light your shadowed path, ye stricken and bereft.

Holy retreat of the unspotted soul!
That heareth not the world's loud tongue proclaim
Its tale of nothing o'er the madd'ning brain,
Where Pride and Genius sink to Guilt and Shame—
Thou shalt survive, a glory to mankind,
When we shall make our graves, nor leave a name behind.

There is no noise of mirth, within thy halls.
Though the full flood of Life is rolling there
A thousand tongues—but still no echo falls—
A thousand prayers—but still no sound of prayer!
A thousand spirits there may melt to song,
Though 'tis the heart's deep music, silent, but how strong!

There is no sound of mourning in thy halls.
Though Sorrow there oft lifts her tearful eye;
But living Stillness moves along thy walls,
Where ears are sentenced for eternity!
Oppressive Silence! where one feels alone,
As if all souls from their mortality had flown.

God has sealed up all lips—all lips are still—
Has closed all ears till sound itself is o'er—
And now no discord wakes a warring will,
Or waves unholy break on Passion's shore.
Peace is the watchword on this hallowed ground—
Religion speaks in silent eloquence around!

O God! thy dispensations none can tell.
Or human frailty dream how dark may be
Thy visitation on us—for the spell
That can unveil the Future, bides with Thee,
In thy blue dome, though unapproached and high—
One and alone, in thine unchanging majesty!

Yet these shall turn impassioned to the sky.
In deep, though voiceless praise around thy throne,
That they can grasp creation with the eye,
And read the lines that teach them 'tis thine own!
Well may ye glory in so proud a shrine,
Whose virtue almost makes humanity divine!