BRAND.
[Comes up along the path, descends, stops half-way upon a jutting crag, and gazes into the valley.]
Yes, I know myself once more!
Every boat-house by the shore,
Every home; the landslip-fall,
And the inlet’s fringe of birch,
And the ancient, mouldcr’d church,
And the river alders, all
From my boyhood I recall.
But methinks it all has grown
Grayer, smaller than I knew;
Yon snow-cornice hangs more prone
Than of old it used to do,
From that scanty heaven encloses
Yet another strip of blue,
Beetles, looms, immures, imposes—
Steals of light a larger due.
[Sits down and gazes into the distance.]