THE irresponsive silence of the land,   The irresponsive sounding 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 touch thy heart? What hand thy hand? And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,   And sometimes I remember days of old When fellowship seem'd not so far to seek,   And all the world and I seem'd much less cold,   And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold, And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak.