I remember my senior year of high school as if it were 53 years ago. I transferred that fall (1966) from my New Orleans public school to Harding Academy in Searcy, Arkansas. I was destined to enroll at the college the next year. I lived in a campus dorm. Since my parents didn't move with me, I was ineligible for participation in interscholastic sports. I did serve as manager. My love of music and an ability to carry a tune in a bucket qualified me for singing the bass part in the academy's chorus. It became the highlight of my senior year.
One of my fondest memories is opening our choral performances singing the hymn The Lord Is in His Holy Temple. We immediately repeated it humming softly as someone recited the poem In Silence:
In silence comes all loveliness.
The dawn is ever still.
No noise accompanies the dew
That glistens on the hill.
The sunrise comes up quietly;
The moon is never heard.
And love that animates the eye
Surpasses any word.
And prayer is best in solitude.
It seems so very odd
That long before I did not know
In silence I'd find God.
This poem is still very special to me. I remembered most of the words even five decades later, but I was unsure of the precise rendition. Thanks to Google, I discovered the original version and its author Marianne Moore (1887-1972). She was a modernist poet of her era. Thanks to God, Marianne, and Google for help as I composed this blog. In Silence is public domain. Use it as you wish when you search in silence for God.
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