 | Lyrics (1895) |  |
84
ASCENDENTI
What dost thou think to find on that sharp peak
Where thou so long dost clamber? Oh! what gold,
What piled and guarded treasure, far to seek,
Can those grey stones enfold?
Where thou so long dost clamber? Oh! what gold,
What piled and guarded treasure, far to seek,
Can those grey stones enfold?
Oh, when you based your upward springing feet
On brown elastic heather, by the streams
That from the hill's cold brow loud-chiding fleet,
Where led your soaring dreams?
On brown elastic heather, by the streams
That from the hill's cold brow loud-chiding fleet,
Where led your soaring dreams?
We in the valley, couched beneath the hill,
Surveyed the tiny speck that travelled on;—
It hardly seemed to move; yet, while the rill
Grew clamorous, it was gone.
Surveyed the tiny speck that travelled on;—
It hardly seemed to move; yet, while the rill
Grew clamorous, it was gone.
85
Then on the shattered ridge that frets the sky
We marked the creeping shadow, ah! too slight
To see the hand you waved, to hear the cry
That told the end in sight!
We marked the creeping shadow, ah! too slight
To see the hand you waved, to hear the cry
That told the end in sight!
Even as you rose, with motion vast and slow
Uprose the giant hills, that hide behind
The nearer moorland, streaked with flashing snow,
Enormous, undefined.
Uprose the giant hills, that hide behind
The nearer moorland, streaked with flashing snow,
Enormous, undefined.
Blue isles of shadow in the offing slept,
And desert wastes and fertile seignories,
Channelled by streams that onward swelled and swept,
And veined with sapphire seas.
And desert wastes and fertile seignories,
Channelled by streams that onward swelled and swept,
And veined with sapphire seas.
How fared your quest then, when you lightly rose,
Swung ardentlimbs across the dangerous height?
The solemn lustre that around you glows
Hints at some secret sight.
Swung ardentlimbs across the dangerous height?
The solemn lustre that around you glows
Hints at some secret sight.
86
Your serious speech, your faltering eyelids mask
The rapture of the summit that you trod:
We see, we shudder, but we dare not ask;
So gazed the hosts of God,
The rapture of the summit that you trod:
We see, we shudder, but we dare not ask;
So gazed the hosts of God,
When that grim prophet stumbled from the place
Of darkness, to the serried tents below;
A phantom radiance quivered on his face,
And gushed beside his brow.
Of darkness, to the serried tents below;
A phantom radiance quivered on his face,
And gushed beside his brow.
| Lyrics (1895) | |