17 JANUARY 1947, Page 13

SILENCE

SILENCE falls like flakes of snow

• *, On living coals of burning woe, Silence shepherds flocks of sheep In woollen river-drift through sleep.

No grate and grit of nerve and noise— Silence like a swan must poise In swathes of air on break and blow— Slow, slow, soft and slow.

Silence floats on breathless wing Gathering the surge and swing Of space in wide, unrippled ring.

Silence, flake-down-feathered dove, Fall in snow shawl round my love, Wrap her in a mute cascade Where no harm comes, nor words invade.

PHCEBE HESKETH.