Silence

HERE where the cold pure air is filled with darkness,
graced but by Hesper and a comet streaming,
censed by the slight smoke from a herdsman’s hearthstone
I stand with silence,

void of desire, but full of contemplation
both of these herds and of the gods above them;
mindful of these, and offering submission
to those immortal.

Older than they, the frosty air about me
speaks to the flocks like careful age, like winter,
saying, Seek shelter: to the gods, I know ye:
and to me nothing

save but that silence is the truth; the silent
stars affirm nothing, and the lovely comet
silent impending, like a nymph translated,
abides in heaven.

Shall not I also stand and worship silence
till the cold enter, and the heart, the housewife,
spin no more, but sit down silent in the presence
of the eternal?