I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch <br />Was glorious with the sun's returning march, <br />And woods were brightened, and soft gales <br />Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales. <br />The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light, <br />They gathered mid-way round the wooded height, <br />And, in their fading glory, shone <br />Like hosts in battle overthrown. <br />As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance. <br />Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance, <br />And rocking on the cliff was left <br />The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft. <br />The veil of cloud was lifted, and below <br />Glowed the rich valley, and the river's flow <br />Was darkened by the forest's shade, <br />Or glistened in the white cascade; <br />Where upward, in the mellow blush of day, <br />The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way. <br /> <br /> I heard the distant waters dash, <br />I saw the current whirl and flash, <br />And richly, by the blue lake's silver beach, <br />The woods were bending with a silent reach. <br />Then o'er the vale, with gentle swell, <br />The music of the village bell <br />Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills; <br />And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills, <br />Was ringing to the merry shout, <br />That faint and far the glen sent out, <br />Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke, <br />Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke. <br /> <br /> If thou art worn and hard beset <br />With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget, <br />If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep <br />Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep, <br />Go to the woods and hills! No tears <br />Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sunrise-on-the-hills/
