I traversed a dominion
Whose spokesmen spake out strong
Their purpose and opinion
Through pulpit, press and song.
I scarce had means to note there
A large-eyed few, and dumb,
Who thought not as those thought there
That stirred the heat and hum.
When, grown a Shade, beholding
That land in lifetime trode,
To learn if its unfolding
Fulfilled its clamored code,
I saw, in web unbroken,
Its history outwrought
Not as the loud had spoken
But as the mute had thought.
-----Thomas Hardy
