THE MOUNTAIN ROAD
Only a glimpse of mountain road
That followed where a river flowed;
Only a glimpse—then on we passed
Skirting the forest dim and vast.
That followed where a river flowed;
Only a glimpse—then on we passed
Skirting the forest dim and vast.
I closed my eyes. On rushed the train
Into the dark, then out again,
Startling the song:birds as it flew
The wild ravines and gorges through.
Into the dark, then out again,
Startling the song:birds as it flew
The wild ravines and gorges through.
But, heeding not the dangerous way
O'erhung by sheer cliffs, rough and gray,
I only saw, as in a dream,
The road beside the mountain stream.
O'erhung by sheer cliffs, rough and gray,
I only saw, as in a dream,
The road beside the mountain stream.
No smoke curled upward in the air,
No meadow-lands stretched broad and fair;
But towering peaks rose far and high,
Piercing the clear, untroubled sky.
No meadow-lands stretched broad and fair;
But towering peaks rose far and high,
Piercing the clear, untroubled sky.
Yet down the yellow, winding road
That followed where the river flowed,
I saw a long procession pass
As shadows over bending grass.
That followed where the river flowed,
I saw a long procession pass
As shadows over bending grass.
The young, the old, the sad, the gay,
Whose feet had worn that narrow way,
Since first within the dusky glade
Some Indian lover wooed his maid;
Whose feet had worn that narrow way,
Since first within the dusky glade
Some Indian lover wooed his maid;
