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Why Art Thou Silent!

William Wordsworth·1770–1850
Lines:14
Why art thou silent! Is thy love a plantOf such weak fibre that the treacherous airOf absence withers what was once so fair?Is there no debt to pay, no boon to grant?Yet have my thoughts for thee been vigilant--Bound to thy service with unceasing care,The mind's least generous wish a mendicantFor nought but what thy happiness could spare.Speak--though this soft warm heart, once free to holdA thousand tender pleasures, thine and mine,Be left more desolate, more dreary coldThan a forsaken bird's-nest filled with snow'Mid its own bush of leafless eglantine--Speak, that my torturing doubts their end may know!