I stood upon a high place, And saw, below, many devils Running, leaping, and carousing in sin. One looked up, grinning,

There was set before me a mighty h… And long days I climbed Through regions of snow. When I had before me the summit-v… It seemed that my labour

There was one I met upon the road Who looked at me with kind eyes. He said, “Show me of your wares.” And this I did, Holding forth one.

There was a man with tongue of woo… Who essayed to sing, And in truth it was lamentable. But there was one who heard The clip-clapper of this tongue of…

Behold, from the land of the farth… I returned. And I was in a reptile-swarming p… Peopled, otherwise, with grimaces, Shrouded above in black impenetrab…

“I have heard the sunset song of t… A white melody in the silence, I have seen a quarrel of the pines… At nightfall The little grasses have rushed by…

A man feared that he might find an… Another that he might find a victi… One was more wise than the other.

There was crimson clash of war. Lands turned black and bare; Women wept; Babes ran, wondering. There came one who understood not…

Each small gleam was a voice, A lantern voice— In little songs of carmine, violet… A chorus of colours came over the… The wondrous leaf-shadow no longer…

I met a seer. He held in his hands The book of wisdom. “Sir,” I addressed him, “Let me read.”

A god in wrath Was beating a man; He cuffed him loudly With thunderous blows That rang and rolled over the eart…

A youth in apparel that glittered Went to walk in a grim forest. There he met an assassin Attired all in garb of old days; He, scowling through the thickets,

Friend, your white beard sweeps th… Why do you stand, expectant? Do you hope to see it In one of your withered days? With your old eyes

If there is a witness to my little… To my tiny throes and struggles, He sees a fool; And it is not fine for gods to men…

When the prophet, a complacent fat… Arrived at the mountain-top, He cried: “Woe to my knowledge! I intended to see good white lands And bad black lands,