With my fancy I grasped at the vague shadows straying, At the vague shadows straying where the daylight had fled; I ascended a tower, and the stairway was swaying, And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread. And the higher I climbed, ever clearer were rounded, Ever clearer were rounded dreaming hilltops aglow; And from Heaven to Earth twilight voices resounded, Twilight voices resounded from above and below. And the higher I rose, strange horizons defining, Strange horizons defining, did the summits appear; And my eyes as I looked were caressed by their shining, Were caressed by their shining, their farewell, sad and clear. Now the night had appeared; Earth in darkness lay dreaming, Earth in darkness lay dreaming, like a slumbering star, While the smoldering sun, his dim embers still gleaming, His dim embers still gleaming, shone for me from afar. I had learned to ensnare the vague shadows far straying, The vague shadows far straying, where the daylight had fled; Ever higher I rose, and the stairway was swaying, And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOUSE WITH THE MARBLE STEPS by AMY LOWELL CARELESS CONTENT by JOHN BYROM WYNKEN, BLYNKEN AND NOD by EUGENE FIELD SAMSON AGONISTES by JOHN MILTON SONNET: 18 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ANACTORIA by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE |