Page:The Voice of the Valley, by Yone Noguchi; 1897.djvu/21

 his is the spontaneous song of a heart that is overflowing with melody—of a soul that would set all the world to music. There are passages in his poems as lofty and abrupt as the precipitous walls of the Valley he adores; there are shadows, also, where the imagery is vague—as imagery should be where overshadowed; there are heights dazzling with frost and sunshine; and over all is the fathomless and alluring sky, into which he soars like that aspiring soul of song that rests not this side the Gate of Heaven.

If he is sometimes obscure, it is because he has flown into cloud-land, where obscurity is a virtue; haunted by a memory of Yosemite, an occasional extravagance is surely permissible.

With the passionate enthusiasm of youth, this unspoiled poet has fluttered the eagles on their star-crowned peaks,