FORTH to sylvan retreats I went, a vagabond, Led by pleasure, and of the distance unaware. The blue range yonder lay too far to travel When the giddy sun was ready to set. Barely had I crossed three, four hills; The road had taken a thousand and ten thousand turns. I heard the monkeys wail in the still twilight, And saw the clouds roll away one by one. Now came the dainty moon over the tall pines, How exquisite the autumnal scene of a hollow glen! There was old snow left in the deep ravine, And the frosty rapids flew, cutting through rock. Mountains thrust their peaks in the mid-sky; I could have climbed and gazed forever When Tan-chiu, my friend, called me from afar. He looked at me and burst into laughter. I went to his hermitage down the valley And entered the solitude of a recluse. Here we delighted ourselves night-long— It was lucid day-break when I spoke of going. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ODE TO THE RAIN by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE SIBERIA by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN LUCY (4) by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH PENITENTIAL PSALM by THOMAS WYATT MAPLE LEAVES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH BRUCE: IN PRAISE OF FREEDOM by JOHN BARBOUR MORGIANA DANCES by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |