ALONE

ALONE! no climber of an Alpine cliff,

No Arctic venturer on the waveless sea,

Feels the dread stillness round him as it chills

The heart of him who leaves the slumbering earth

To watch the silent worlds that crowd the sky.

Alone! And as the shepherd leaves his flock

To feed upon the hillside, he meanwhile

Finds converse in the warblings of the pipe

Himself has fashioned for his vacant hour,

So have I grown companion to myself,

And to the wandering spirits of the air

That smile and whisper round us in our dreams.

Thus have I learned to search if I may know

The whence and why of all beneath the stars

And all beyond them, and to weigh my life

As in a balance,— poising good and ill

Against each other,— asking of the Power

That flung me forth among the whirling worlds,

If I am heir to any inborn right,

Or only as an atom of the dust

That every wind may blow where'er it will.