Pale trees on the horizon grow, Pale, faint and dim and grey -- Can they be real trees? They flow Into the mist away. Between us the valleys are green and wide, But what is beyond on the other side? Beyond I see a wooden pier, Stretching into a shadowy lake, And a sudden cry of wild-fowl I hear As over the reeds their flight they take, Over the reeds and far away Beyond the trees, dim, pale and grey; A wooden pier -- a shadowy pond, But what is beyond? What is beyond? Beyond there is a long, long road, Bordered by ditches dark and wide, Where a wayfarer with a heavy load Talks to the silence at his side. Talks to the silence and talks to the trees, But what is beyond, beyond all these? Beyond is a house with a ruined wall, Where the long road enters an ancient wood, And its rafters rot and sink and fall, And nothing disturbs its solitude, Only a heron, high up in the sky, Cries with a melancholy cry; Cries to the house, to the road and the trees, Cries to the wayfarer passing these; Between us the valleys are green and wide, But what is beyond -- on the other side? Pale trees on the horizon grow, Pale, faint and dim and grey. Can they be real trees? They flow Into the mist away! Beyond and beyond, and further still, Beyond, till we cross the world's last hill -- So it goes. So it always will! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEAD LEAVES by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ENVOYS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 1. SUNRISE IN THE TROPICS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE SEASONS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ALONZO CHURCHILL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS OCTAVES: 2 by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |