Classic Poem

suggested by " POEMS OF PLACES . "

A H me! with what regret
Must many an eye and soul go wandering here,
Because Remembrance holds no happy light
For them to read the picture-poems by, —
And Hope has set!
Genius and Fancy only make them dear,
Not the recall or reach of blessed sight; —
And with unsated longings they must die.

Yet there is still One Place
Made known to none save by its simple name;
The far-famed traveller hath no vantage there
Beyond the one who never left his home.
All, all the race
Are one in wonder, ignorant the same.
Unanswered still must be the what and where,
Till each to all his fellows hath grown dumb!

It lieth in no zone,
No zeroed number telleth its degree
From our equator or meridian;
Yet latitude and longitude it hath,
This great Unknown,
And thither gathered shall all nations be; —
Earth's myriad cities haste to meet in One,
When, how, they know not, only track the path!