Death & Dying

Song of the Silent Land

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807–1882

From Translations

Death & Dying

Into the Silent Land!
Ah! who shall lead us thither?
Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather,
And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand.
Who leads us with a gentle hand
Thither, O thither,
Into the Silent Land?

Into the Silent Land!
To you, ye boundless regions
Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions
Of beauteous souls! The Future's pledge and band!
Who in Life's battle firm doth stand,
Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms
Into the Silent Land!

O Land! O Land!
For all the broken-hearted
The mildest herald by our fate allotted,
Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand
To lead us with a gentle hand
To the land of the great Departed,
Into the Silent Land!

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Translated by Longfellow from Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis, German

MLA

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Song of the Silent Land.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/longfellow/363/.

Chicago

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Song of the Silent Land.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/longfellow/363/.

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