Of the Love That Is Silent
Love, silent as the night,Who not one word wilt say,That none may know thee right!
O Love that lies concealed,Through heat and storm and cold,That none may guess nor readThy secrets manifold;Lest thieves should soon grow boldTo steal away thy treasure,Snatch it and take to flight!
Deep-hid, thy secret firesMore ardently shall glow ;And he who screens thee close,Thy fiercest heat shall know;But he who fain would showThy mysteries, will be wounded,Scorched by thy fiery might.
The man who strives to tellThat secret joy within,In vain he babbles thus:—Before his words beginThe bitter winds of sinWill storm and whirl around him,And wreck his treasure bright.
The man who sets his torchHigh on a candlestick,To let it shine in peace,Shields it with shutters thick,Lest winds should catch the wick,—Through open casements blowingAnd quench its flick'ring light.
'Tis Silence, at thy doorHolds captive all thy sighs:Mute Love hath set him there,He will not let him rise ;So shalt thou hold thy prizeThat it may live within thee,Not scattered left and right.
For if thy sighs come forth,Therewith comes forth thy mind,To wander far from home,And leave her joy behind,Nor can she ever findThe Good, bestowed upon her,That Treasure Infinite.
Mute Love hath thrust awayFalse Seeming from his side,In Love's fair land and realmNo longer to abide.Hypocrisy and Pride,And all that do them homageAre chased to outer night.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- candlestick n.
- An instrument or utensil for supporting a candle. [AS. candel-sticca; candel candle + sticca stick.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of the Love That Is Silent is in the public domain. This text is taken from Jacopone da Todi, Poet and Mystic, 1228-1306: A Spiritual Biography, with a Selection from the Spiritual Songs, Internet Archive, the Mrs. Theodore Beck translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jacopone da Todi, Of the Love That Is Silent, in The Lauds (1919), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacopone-lauds/of-the-love-that-is-silent.html, id L27113.
Form and metre
Of the Love That Is Silent is 52 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A nightA · say · rightA
- 2 -A-AA-- concealed · coldA · read · manifoldA · boldA · treasure · flight
- 3 -A-AA-- fires · glowA · close · knowA · showA · wounded · might
- 4 -A-AA-- tell · withinA · thus · beginA · sinA · him · bright
- 5 -A-AA-- torch · candlestickA · peace · thickA · wickA · blowing · light
- 6 -A-AA-- door · sighsA · there · riseA · prizeA · thee · right
- 7 -A-AA-- forth · mindA · home · behindA · findA · her · infinite
- 8 -A-AA-- away · sideA · realm · abideA · prideA · homage · night
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love, silent as the night, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who not one word wilt say, | 6 | ······ |
| That none may know thee right! | 6 | ······ |
| O Love that lies concealed, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Through heat and storm and cold, | 6 | ······ |
| That none may guess nor read | 6 | ······ |
| Thy secrets manifold; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Lest thieves should soon grow bold | 6 | ······ |
| To steal away thy treasure, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Snatch it and take to flight! | 6 | ······ |
| Deep-hid, thy secret fires | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| More ardently shall glow ; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And he who screens thee close, | 6 | ······ |
| Thy fiercest heat shall know; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But he who fain would show | 6 | ······ |
| Thy mysteries, will be wounded, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Scorched by thy fiery might. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The man who strives to tell | 6 | ······ |
| That secret joy within, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In vain he babbles thus:— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Before his words begin | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The bitter winds of sin | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Will storm and whirl around him, | 7 | ······· |
| And wreck his treasure bright. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The man who sets his torch | 6 | ······ |
| High on a candlestick, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To let it shine in peace, | 6 | ······ |
| Shields it with shutters thick, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Lest winds should catch the wick, | 6 | ······ |
| —Through open casements blowing | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| And quench its flick'ring light. | 6 | ······ |
| 'Tis Silence, at thy door | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Holds captive all thy sighs: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Mute Love hath set him there, | 6 | ······ |
| He will not let him rise ; | 6 | ······ |
| So shalt thou hold thy prize | 6 | ······ |
| That it may live within thee, | 7 | ······· |
| Not scattered left and right. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For if thy sighs come forth, | 6 | ······ |
| Therewith comes forth thy mind, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| To wander far from home, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And leave her joy behind, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor can she ever find | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The Good, bestowed upon her, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| That Treasure Infinite. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Mute Love hath thrust away | 6 | ····˘/ |
| False Seeming from his side, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In Love's fair land and realm | 6 | ······ |
| No longer to abide. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Hypocrisy and Pride, | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| And all that do them homage | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Are chased to outer night. | 6 | ···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.