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 Aloof by Christina Rossetti 
						THE irresponsive silence of the land, The irresponsive sounding of the sea,
 Speak both one message of one sense to me:--
 Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand
 Thou too aloof, bound with the flawless band
 Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;
 But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?
 What heart shall touch thy heart? What hand thy hand?
 And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,
 And sometimes I remember days of old
 When fellowship seem'd not so far to seek,
 And all the world and I seem'd much less cold,
 And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,
 And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak.
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