The summit is deserted, is gloomy, inclement; Black pits engulf it. To the far horizon Naught greets the eye save solitude eternal, And far-spreading winter. And yet, O Lord, @3there@1 are The prints of bare feet—men have been here before me! There are irons and bones—I have seen these before! I was below, with mine eyes fixed on the mountain; Two beings passed while my face was upturned. Their countenance glowed as the sun of the morning; They were strangers to me, as they shone through their garments, But the starlight I saw in the glance of their eye. And one seemed most frank, and one somewhat prouder, And one, as they walked on together, said low: "Believe!" and the other: "Think!" and I wondered. And the brow of the one bore the single word: Conscience. On the brow of the other glowed the single word: Truth. On them fed my glances, moved by their beauty; These stern beings then gave me signal to rise— And them did I follow, 'tis they who have led me And brought to the summit and left here alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HE'D BE NOTHING BUT HIS VIOLIN by MARY KYLE DALLAS THE LOST SHEEP by SARAH PRATT MCCLAIN GREENE GOING AND STAYING by THOMAS HARDY THE FINDING OF THE LYRE by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE NYMPH COMPLAINING FOR THE DEATH OF HER FAUN [OR, FAWN] by ANDREW MARVELL THE OWL by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS |