 | Fand and Other Poems |  |
Into a land of wonder I was come:
The year in the north was autumn's: here not so;
Young summer by the charm of leafier woods,
And greener meads, and sweeter flowers detained.
Yet did I see but little till I reached
The long-sought shores, and the fair water lay,
Circling its isles before me; round it rose
Mountains, that were but banks of woods and flowers,
Some, with a sudden spring, upheaving high
Their breasts, bright-plumed, like unto gorgeous birds
Exulting in rich beauty, richly robed.
Others, in wider spaces more removed,
Rolled up in endless terraces to heaven
Broad fields dark green with forests of the pine.
The slopes, that touched the lake, ran down below
So clear, it seemed the underwater sky
Revealed the palaces of fairyland;
And in the upper bowers of oak and beech,
Glossy as in mid May, the sunlight revelled
Like some fair half-tamed creature, new set free:
Above, the naked peaks nearer the sun
Burned, like the golden dwellings of the gods.
The year in the north was autumn's: here not so;
Young summer by the charm of leafier woods,
5
Yet did I see but little till I reached
The long-sought shores, and the fair water lay,
Circling its isles before me; round it rose
Mountains, that were but banks of woods and flowers,
Some, with a sudden spring, upheaving high
Their breasts, bright-plumed, like unto gorgeous birds
Exulting in rich beauty, richly robed.
Others, in wider spaces more removed,
Rolled up in endless terraces to heaven
Broad fields dark green with forests of the pine.
The slopes, that touched the lake, ran down below
So clear, it seemed the underwater sky
Revealed the palaces of fairyland;
And in the upper bowers of oak and beech,
Glossy as in mid May, the sunlight revelled
Like some fair half-tamed creature, new set free:
Above, the naked peaks nearer the sun
Burned, like the golden dwellings of the gods.
| Fand and Other Poems | |