There rose a stately mountain dark and blue,
On whose far peak there shone a palace fair—
A wondrous sight! And as I gazed there flew
From the gemm'd porches of that palace rare
Some god or angel with a golden lyre,
And, sailing into the pellucid air,
He sang to me and set my soul on fire!—
"O dreamer, wouldst thou scale the summit where
Yon palace stands? If this be thy desire
"Thy task is great, for at thy feet there flows
The mighty Sea of Knowledge, thro' whose deep
Thy path shall lie,—for only he who knows
"May hope to climb yon silent dizzy steep
Of thought sublime, on whose far peak there glows
The palace where sweet Poesy doth keep
"Her daughters fair, the sweet-voiced Muses Nine."
And when the voice was still I strove to speak,
And faltering said: "O son of Song divine,
"Pray tell me how shall one so mean and weak
In knowledge, and with shallow thought like mine,
E'er climb those heights that palace lair to seek?"
Lo! as I spake a ghostly mist arose
And hid that fairy Vision from my sight;
Fled was the palace fair of flaming rose!
