Classic Poem

Since it was love of you that first revealed
Rapture of glens and blown dance of the sky,
The march of storm and rivers in the field
And hanging blaze of ocean, how should I
Without your presence feel that spirit strong
That kissed my soul to song,
And showed me the moon's race, of dreamy nights,
When through the pearly reefs she foams along
Zoned with a flame athwart the wine-dark heights
To build about the night-paths of the summer
Her sunken palaces of silver lights!

Come, come, and climb with me to this great Down
Where the sea-roar of pines puts care to sleep,
And 'midst the blaeberry and heather brown
Watch far below resistless shadows sweep
The Wealden plain whose villages ray fire
From many a chanted shire —
Walk with me now above the plains and seas,
Ere in us both the springs of life expire —
And leave with hearts flung open to the breeze
Self-muttering cities, that have lost horizons,
To sink behind the mountains and the trees!