kwa a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted kwa ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black kiti cha enzi reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule --
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE -- out of TIME.
Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the dews that drip all over;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters -- lone and dead, --
Their still waters -- still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.
kwa the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead, --
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily, --
kwa the mountains -- near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, --
kwa the grey woods, -- kwa the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp, --
kwa the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls, --
kwa each spot the most unholy --
In each nook most melancholy, --
There the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past --
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer kwa --
White-robed forms of Marafiki long given,
In agony, to the Earth -- and Heaven.
For the moyo whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful, soothing region --
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'Tis -- oh 'tis an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it,
May not -- dare not openly view it;
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.
kwa a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted kwa ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black kiti cha enzi reigns upright,
I have wandered nyumbani but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.
Haunted kwa ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black kiti cha enzi reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule --
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE -- out of TIME.
Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the dews that drip all over;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters -- lone and dead, --
Their still waters -- still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.
kwa the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead, --
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily, --
kwa the mountains -- near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, --
kwa the grey woods, -- kwa the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp, --
kwa the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls, --
kwa each spot the most unholy --
In each nook most melancholy, --
There the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past --
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer kwa --
White-robed forms of Marafiki long given,
In agony, to the Earth -- and Heaven.
For the moyo whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful, soothing region --
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'Tis -- oh 'tis an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it,
May not -- dare not openly view it;
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.
kwa a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted kwa ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black kiti cha enzi reigns upright,
I have wandered nyumbani but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore kwa that dear name I long have called you-
wewe who are zaidi than mother unto me,
And fill my moyo of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother–my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
kwa that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore kwa that dear name I long have called you-
wewe who are zaidi than mother unto me,
And fill my moyo of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother–my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
kwa that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from wewe now,
Thus much let me avow-
wewe are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, au in a day,
In a vision, au in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see au seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see au seem
But a dream within a dream?
And, in parting from wewe now,
Thus much let me avow-
wewe are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, au in a day,
In a vision, au in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see au seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see au seem
But a dream within a dream?
