A great hope falls without a sound. There is no outward crash, no witness—just a cunning, silent ruin within. The speaker describes a mind built for heavy cargo, braced for dread, yet she keeps foundering not on open water but on dry land, in everyday life. The wound is so stubbornly denied that it spreads until her entire existence pours into it, leaving only empty troughs on either side. Then comes the closing of a simple lid—the kind that once let in sunlight—until a tender carpenter hammers it shut for good. The mood is one of quiet, creeping devastation, the feeling of being boarded up alive from the inside, without anyone ever knowing.
A great Hope fell — Summary
A great Hope fell You heard no noise The Ruin was within Oh cunning wreck that told no tale And let no Witness in
The mind was built for mighty Freight For dread occasion planned How often foundering at Sea Ostensibly, on Land
A not admitting of the wound Until it grew so wide That all my Life had entered it And there were troughs beside
A closing of the simple lid That opened to the sun Until the tender Carpenter Perpetual nail it down --