Classic Poem

" And when we met, one golden afternoon —
Met on a cliff, where I had dared to climb
To hear some sea waves chant, in Elfin tune,
Some grand old Gothic rhyme.

" He said, " Behold, O friend, this scene is fair;
That low, green hill, half veiled in purple mist,
Whereon the maples and the sumachs wear
Scarlet and amethyst;

" " Yon reach of meadow lands, fair glebe and glade,
Dotted with snowy lambs and spotted kine;
That old brown homestead nestling in the shade
Of tree and climbing vine;

" " That distant coast that seems to meet the sky
Among the golden mountains of the West;
Yon long sea-reach, where wan waves sob and sigh,
Because they find no rest;

" " And nearer, see that lichen-bannered ledge,
At whose brown feet a sparkling streamlet runs,
Kissing the lilies, peeping through the sedge,
Like crowds of cloistered nuns.

" " Ah, friend, this world of ours is good and fair
In its appointments, and their temperate use;
That there is pain and sorrow, want and care,
Proves only its abuse.

" " That some men are uncultured, mean and base;
That some are sordid, selfish and unkind;
That some are fell destroyers of their race,
Proves only they are blind.