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Silence, a fable by Edgar Allan
Poe. The mountain, pinnacles, slumber,

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valleys, crags and caves are silent. Listen to me, said the

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demon, as he placed his hand
upon my head. The region of which

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I speak is a dreary region in
Libya, by the borders of the river

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Zaire. And there is no quiet
there, nor silence. The waters of

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the river have a saffron and sickly
yew, and they flow not onward to

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the sea, but palpitate forever and
forever beneath the ret eye of the sun,

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with a tumultuous and convulsive motion,
for many miles. On either side

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of the river's oozy bed is a
pale desert of gigantic water lilies. They

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sigh one unto the other in that
solitude, and stretch towards the heaven their

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long and ghastly necks, and not
to and fro their everlasting heads. And

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there is an indistinct murmur which cometh
out from among them, like the rushing

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of supterene water. And they sigh
one unto the other. But there is

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a boundary to theiron, the boundary
of the dark, horrible, lofty forest.

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There, like the waves about the
hebrides. The low underwoot is agitated

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continually, but there is no wind
throughout the heaven. And the tall primeval

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trees rock eternally hither and thither with
a crashing and mighty sound, and from

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their high summits, one by one
drop everlasting dews. And at the roots

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strange poisonous flowers lie writhing and perturbed
slumber. And overhead, with a rustling

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and loud noise, the gray clouds
rush westwardly forever until they roll a cataract

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over the fiery wall of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the

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heaven, and by the shores of
the river Zyra, there is neither quiet

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nor silence. It was night,
and the rain fell, and falling it

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was rain, but having fallen it
was blood. And I stood in the

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morass among the tall lilies, and
the rain fell upon my hat, and

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the lily sighed one into the other
in the solemnity of their desolation. And

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all at once the moon arose through
the thin, ghastly mist and was crimson

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in color. And mine eyes fell
upon a huge gray rock which stood by

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the shore of the river, and
was lighted by the light of the moon,

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and the rock was gray and ghastly
and tall, and the rock was

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gray. Upon its front were characters
engraven in the stones. And I walked

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through the morass of water lilies until
I came close in to the shore,

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that I might read the characters upon
the stone. But I could not decipher

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them. And I was going back
into the morass when the moon shone with

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a fuller ret and I turned and
looked again upon the rock and upon the

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characters, and the characters were desert. And I looked upwards, and there

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stood a man upon the summit of
the rock. And I hid myself among

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the water lilies, that I might
discover the action of the man. And

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the man was tall and stately in
form, and wrapped up from his shoulders

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to his feet in the toga of
old Rome. And the outlines of his

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figure were indistinct, But his features
were the features of a deity. For

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the mantle of the night, and
of the mist, and of the moon,

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and of the dew had left uncovered
the features of his face. And

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his brow was lofty with thought,
and his eye wild with care. And

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in the few furrows upon his cheek
I read the fables of sorrow and the

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weariness and disgusted with mankind, and
the longing after solitude. And the man

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sat on the rock and leaned his
hat upon his hand, and looked out

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upon the desolation. He looked down
into the low and quiet shriverery, and

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up into the tall primeval trees,
and up high at the rustling heaven,

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and into the crimson moon. And
I lay close within shelter of the lilies,

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and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the

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solitude. But the knight waned,
and he sat upon the rock. And

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the man turned his attention from the
heaven and looked out upon the dreary river

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Zayra, and upon the yellow,
ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions

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of the water lily. And the
man listened to the sighs of the water

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lilies, and to the murmur that
came up from among them. And I

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lay close within my covert and observed
the actions of the man. And the

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man trembled in the solitude. But
the night waned, and he sat upon

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the rock. Then I went down
into the recesses of the Moras and waded

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afar in among the wilderness of the
lilies, and called into the hippopotamy,

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which dwelt among the fence in the
recesses of the morahs. And the Hippopotamy

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heard my cow and came with the
behemoth unto the foot of the rock,

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and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the
moon. And I lay close within my

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covert and observed the actions of the
man. And the man tramped in the

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solitude, but the night went,
and he sat upon the rock. Then

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I cursed the elements with the curs
of tumult, and the frightful tempest gathered

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in the heaven where before there had
been no wind, and the heaven became

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livid with the violence of the tempest. And the rain beat upon the head

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of the man, and the floods
of the river came down, and the

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river was tormented into foam, and
the water lily shrieked within their beds,

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and the forests crumbled before the wind, and the thunder rolled, and the

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lightning fell, and the rock rocked
to its foundation. And I lay close

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within my covert and observed the actions
of the man. And the man trembled

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in the solitude, but the night
went and he sat upon the rock.

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Then I grew angry and cursed with
the curs of silence the river and the

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lilies, and the wind and the
forest, and the heaven and the thunder

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and the sighs of the water lilies. And they became a cursed and were

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still. And the moon ceased to
totter up its pathway to heaven, and

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the thunder died away, and the
lightning did not flash, and the clouds

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hung motionless, and the waters sunk
to their level and remained, and the

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trees ceased to rock, and the
water lilies sighed no more, and the

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murmur was heard no longer from among
them, nor any shadow of sound throughout

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the vast illimitable desert. And I
looked upon the characters of the rock,

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and they were changed, and the
characters were silence. And my eyes fell

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upon the countenance of the man,
and his countenance was one with terror.

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And hurriedly he raised his head from
his hand and stood forth upon the rock

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and listened. But there was no
voice throughout the vast illimitable desert, and

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the characters upon the rock were silence. And the man shuddered and turned his

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face away, and flat afar off
in haste, so that I beheld him

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no more. Now there are fine
tills in the volumes of the Magi,

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in the iron bound, melancholy volumes
of the Magi. Therein I say,

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I glorious histories of the heaven and
of the Earth, and of the mighty

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Sea, and of the Genii that
overruled the sea and the earth and the

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lofty heaven. There was much lore
too in the sayings which were set by

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the sybyls, and holly holy things
were heard of old by the dim leaves

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that trembled around the Dona. But
as Allah liveth that fable which the Damon

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told me as he sat by my
sight in the shadow of the tomb,

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I hold to be the most wonderful
of all. And as the demon made

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an end of his story, he
fell back within the cavity of the tomb

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and laughed. And I could not
laugh with the demon. And he cursed

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me because I could not laugh.
And the lynx which dwelleth for ever in

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the tomb, came out therefrom and
lay down at the feet of the demon

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and looked at him steadily in the
face, and of silence, a fable