Hidden
William Lawrence Chittenden’s poem “Hidden” is the opening piece in his 1893 collection “Ranch Verses”.
William Lawrence Chittenden was born on 23 March 1862 in Montclair, New Jersey, US, and he died on 24 September 1934 in New York, US, at the age of 72.Though originally from New Jersey, “Larry” Chittenden is often associated with Texas, where he established a ranch. He began to write poetry there, and in 1893, G.P. Putnam’s Sons published a collection of his poems, titled Ranch Verses, which earned him the sobriquet “poet-ranchman of Texas” and which has since been reprinted in many editions. In his epigraph to the book, Chittenden writes, “The verses in this little volume are offsprings of solitude—born in idle hours on a Texas ranch”.
External links:
Errata:
- At 0:19: “…That never will melt…”
Afar on the pathless prairies The rarest of flowers abound; And in the dark caves of the valleys There is wealth that will never be found; So there are sweet songs in the silence That never will melt into sound.
The twilight illumines her banners With colors no artist can teach; And aloft in the sky there are sermons Too mighty for mortals to preach; So life has its lovely ideals Too lofty for language to reach.
Afar on the sea there’s a music That the shore never knows in its rest; And in the green depths of the forest There are choirs that carol unblest; So, deep in the heart there’s a music And a cadence that’s never expressed.