Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/99

Rh Faded that mountain steep, that ocean bright!

And ev'n as one bow'd down with nameless woes

I sighed and wept in sorrow infinite.

And as I wept swift changed was the scene,—

And far away amidst the ancient hills,

Begirt with shadowy forests dark and green,

I sat and listened to the tinkling rills

Which rippled softly thro' the gloom and sheen

Of the still woods—a sound that ever fills

The mind with peaceful thought—and lo! I heard

A voice serenely sweet, that bathed with light

Of hope renewed my languid life, and stirr'd

My inmost soul to visions pure and bright,—

A voice divine,—sweeter than song of bird,

Sweeter than the ringing of the foam-bell white

Upon the list'ning shore, or lone wind's sigh

Thro' echoing forests,—thus it spake to me:

"Fear not, O dreamer! not o'er mountains high

"Of thought sublime, nor yet thro' the deep sea

Of knowledge doth Poesy's Palace lie;

But in the plains of Life, where live and die

"Mankind, in joy and sorrow, smiles and tears,

In aspirations great, in longings vain,

In strife and sin, in gloomy doubts and fears;