There is a place none knows but I -- The Castle of Gathore! Black murky pools about it lie. And the trees are sick with its mystery; And dead things are its floor. Each tree with twisted root entwines The bones of older trees. Moon after moon above them shines -- Beyond the moon -- the Zodiac signs! Beyond @3them@1 -- the Immensities! None would think that ever such pools could be! Black morgues of leafy doom, Where century after century Old forests find their tomb. Oh terrible steps of leaf-mould sod Such as man never saw That mount up -- holy Mother of God! -- To the Castle of Gathore! And I alone -- yes only I -- Under Algol and Altair -- When a new-born moon was in the sky Climbed up that mossy stair. Old Cypress-roots of long decay Troubled my noiseless tread; Old Yews made midnight of the day As they met above my head. Out of the trees, tier above tier, Mossed stone above mossed stone, Buttress on buttress, it towered there, A Nightmare image, a thing of fear, Revealed to me alone! My home! My home! To my heart I said -- My home! To my soul I cried -- From here have been wafted those airs of the dead That have driven my true love from my bed, And my true love from my side! This is what divides me from him and her And the blessed light of the sun; Till the eyes of Algol and of Altair Are my only benison! This is what they guessed when in dumb surprise They turned and let me pass -- This is what they saw behind my eyes Like a phantom in a glass! They saw those towers; they saw those trees; And I am alone once more -- Alone with the Immensities And the Castle of Gathore! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO IMAGINATION (2) by EMILY JANE BRONTE A CHANNEL PASSAGE by RUPERT BROOKE A COMPARISON [ADDRESSED] TO A YOUNG LADY by WILLIAM COWPER A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 1. 1887 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN CREPUSCULE DU MATIN; SONNET by AMY LOWELL SONNET: 45 by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY |