Classic Poem

Up and down it follows, follows,
I can never quite escape;
On the hills and in the hollows,
This familiar, silent shape
Still is with me, tireless ever;
Friend or foe — whoe'er I meet,
This companion leaves me never
Keeping step with soundless feet.

Looking at it, I am lonely,
For a stranger still it seems;
Though it follows me — me only,
Yet, as something seen in dreams,
I behold it. Oft I wonder
Whither all its steps do tend;
All its features hidden under
Veils no changeful winds can rend.

Can no pain nor passion move thee,
O my comrade? I am tossed
By the tempests sent to prove me —
On thy calm their wrath is lost.
Come thou near, my patient lover,
Let me whisper that I see —
What no other may discover —
Change at last has come to me!

Once thy feet were swift beside me,
Not a hill too high to climb;
From the heat thou didst not hide thee,
Naught to thee were space and time;
Light as air, I saw thee dancing
Down the pathway where I strayed.
Dost thou see the night advancing?
Art thou of the dark afraid?

Canst thou hear me, lover, stranger?
Silent shape, I tell thee now,
I, through safety and through danger,
Am become as changed as thou.
Yet my heart leaps on before me,
New stars burn within the sky;
Courage, courage! I implore thee —
O my comrade, faster fly!

Up and down it follows, follows,
I can never quite escape;
On the hills and in the hollows,
This familiar, silent shape
Still is with me, tireless ever;
Friend or foe — whoe'er I meet,
This companion leaves me never
Keeping step with soundless feet.

Looking at it, I am lonely,
For a stranger still it seems;
Though it follows me — me only,
Yet, as something seen in dreams,
I behold it. Oft I wonder
Whither all its steps do tend;
All its features hidden under
Veils no changeful winds can rend.

Can no pain nor passion move thee,
O my comrade? I am tossed
By the tempests sent to prove me —
On thy calm their wrath is lost.
Come thou near, my patient lover,
Let me whisper that I see —
What no other may discover —
Change at last has come to me!

Once thy feet were swift beside me,
Not a hill too high to climb;
From the heat thou didst not hide thee,
Naught to thee were space and time;
Light as air, I saw thee dancing
Down the pathway where I strayed.
Dost thou see the night advancing?
Art thou of the dark afraid?

Canst thou hear me, lover, stranger?
Silent shape, I tell thee now,
I, through safety and through danger,
Am become as changed as thou.
Yet my heart leaps on before me,
New stars burn within the sky;
Courage, courage! I implore thee —
O my comrade, faster fly!