 | Poems |  |
117
ALONE UPON THE MOUNTAINS.
Alone upon the mountains! and at night—
A night of fitful clouds and shadowy gleams.
The tremulous mists that creep from height to height,
Their skirts are round my footsteps: and the streams,
Whose moan so oft hath haunted me in dreams,
At length I roam their rugged tracks along:
The caves that I have pictured, and the beams
Of moonlight flickering the dark peaks among,
No more are as a lovely but far distant song.
A night of fitful clouds and shadowy gleams.
The tremulous mists that creep from height to height,
Their skirts are round my footsteps: and the streams,
Whose moan so oft hath haunted me in dreams,
At length I roam their rugged tracks along:
The caves that I have pictured, and the beams
Of moonlight flickering the dark peaks among,
No more are as a lovely but far distant song.
Alone upon the mountains! with the voice
Of torrent floods around me, and the sound
Of rushing winds, as playmates of my choice.
Ye vales, with roses and with myrtle crown'd,
Ye quiet springs, Enchantment's trancing ground,
I once was yours, but can be yours no more.
Alone, by rock and ocean girdled round:
Sweep, ye wild wintry blasts, the waters o'er,
And roll, thou billowy deep, all darkly as of yore.
Of torrent floods around me, and the sound
Of rushing winds, as playmates of my choice.
Ye vales, with roses and with myrtle crown'd,
Ye quiet springs, Enchantment's trancing ground,
128
Alone, by rock and ocean girdled round:
Sweep, ye wild wintry blasts, the waters o'er,
And roll, thou billowy deep, all darkly as of yore.
Far, far upon the mountain-peaks to be,
Lone gazing, as in visionary trance,
Down on the white foam of the midnight sea,
Whose billows gleam with meteor light, and dance
Like revellers of night beneath the glance
Of the pale moonbeams, or the lightning's glare:
A fluttering sail athwart the waves' expanse
Sweeps yonder, like a spirit of despair
Driven o'er the gulph of death, it knows not, heeds not where.
Lone gazing, as in visionary trance,
Down on the white foam of the midnight sea,
Whose billows gleam with meteor light, and dance
Like revellers of night beneath the glance
Of the pale moonbeams, or the lightning's glare:
A fluttering sail athwart the waves' expanse
Sweeps yonder, like a spirit of despair
Driven o'er the gulph of death, it knows not, heeds not where.
'Tis past—and I am girt with clouds once more,
Clouds that would mock the piercing eaglet's eye,
Impenetrable darkness, and the roar
Of all the battling armies of the sky
Above me and around, and far and nigh.
Felt though unseen: this is the place for me;
Here can the spirit's wing unfetter'd fly,
And track with flight as rapid and as free
The lightning in its pathway o'er the glorious sea.
Clouds that would mock the piercing eaglet's eye,
Impenetrable darkness, and the roar
Of all the battling armies of the sky
Above me and around, and far and nigh.
129
Here can the spirit's wing unfetter'd fly,
And track with flight as rapid and as free
The lightning in its pathway o'er the glorious sea.
1843.
| Poems | |