University of Virginia Library

THE HEIGHTS REMAIN

We saw thee drop this day in circles down,
Dear lark, to win thy nest! The stream is brown,
With silver streak'd; upon the left it glows,
Broad in the summer floods. A South-wind blows,
The road is white in front, and blue thou art,
O summer sky! Thy beauty takes the heart.
What gleams high up on yonder distant hill,
This moment brought in view? The white road still!
Great soul, to stand upon that soaring peak
And feel the wind of heaven on either cheek!
But at the base three several tracks divide,
And that which we must take turns there aside;
Wide uplands slope upon the left and right,
The trees grow denser towards the airy height,
Freshens the wind advancing. We shall pass
A furlong's space over the light lawn-grass;
The quickset hedge will part, the path will take
Our steps a little into bower and brake,
Then into forest shade and mystery.
So, if we lose the heights, we yet shall see
What revelations may, in glades conceal'd
And sudden clearings, be to eye reveal'd;
What shapes of beauty down green vistas wait
And who sings sweetly at the farmyard gate;
Or, when those distant bells' sweet jangles cease,
Feel what it is which gives the woodland peace,
And why the spring, which keeps so still through noon,
Begins towards eve to chatter for the moon;
Till, after winding for a mile or less,
The path comes gaily from the wilderness
And gives us back once more to wind and sky.
There, over pleasant meadows, soaring high,
The peak again invites the climber's feet.
So we who have explored the green retreat,
And something of its lesser secrets learn'd,
Lose nothing, from our course a moment turn'd,
Since the exulting heights still rest to climb—
To-day, to-morrow, or in after time.