To Mrs. Joseph A. Sweetser
From ED

late January 1874

Saying nothing, My Aunt Katie, sometimes says the Most.

Death's Waylaying not the sharpest
Of the thefts of Time -
There Marauds a sorer Robber,
Silence - is his name -
No Assault, nor any Menace
Doth betoken him.
But from Life's consummate Cluster-
He supplants the Balm.