Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Catskill
By Bayard Taylor (1825–1878)H
How vast the boundless vision breaks in view!
Nor thought, nor word, can well depict the scene;
The din of toil comes faintly swelling up
From green fields far below; and all around
The forest sea sends up its ceaseless roar
Like to the ocean’s everlasting chime.
Mountains on mountains in the distance rise,
Like clouds along the far horizon’s verge;
Their misty summits mingling with the sky,
Till earth and heaven seem blended into one.
So far removed from toil and bustling care,—
So far from earth, if heaven no nearer be,
And gazing, as a spirit, from mid-air
Upon the strife and tumult of the world,
Let me forget the cares I leave behind,
And with an humble spirit, bow before
The Maker of these everlasting hills.