BEFORE this, when I was stationed at Hsun-yang, Already I regretted the fewness of friends and guests. Suddenly, suddenly, -- bearing a stricken heart I left the gates, with nothing to comfort me. Henceforward, -- relegated to deep seclusion In a bottomless gorge, flanked by precipitous mountains, Five months on end the passage of boats is stopped By the piled billows that toss and leap like colts. The inhabitants of Pa resemble wild apes; Fierce and lusty, they fill the mountains and prairies. Among such as these I cannot hope for friends And am pleased with anyone who is even remotely human! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NIGHT MAIL NORTH (EUSTON SQUARE, 1840) by HENRY CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL THE SPRING OF THE YEAR by ALLAN CUNNINGHAM THE RIGHT MUST WIN by FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER LINES WRITTEN TO HIS WIFE [WHILE ON A VISIT TO UPPER INDIA] by REGINALD HEBER THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 53. WITHOUT HER by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI O YOU WHOM I OFTEN AND SILENTLY COME by WALT WHITMAN THE PROPHECY OF SAMUEL SEWALL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |