O wonder-haunted valley, sea-merged land, I turn with chastened heart and weary eye, Who spurned your wonted peace with careless hand To seek the highway where the world goes by. I come to you, my spirit dull and spent, Song but a legend, courage drugged with pain, Groping with troubled step, a penitent, To woo your cloistered solitude again. The road bends eagerly, compassionate With tang of bay and race of autumn wine. Rapt by the wall the shadowy cedars wait, True as a monolith the blackening pine. For this, for this the sands of joy were drained, -- Dawn on the hills, and paradise regained! |