Autumn's sun was brightly blazing
Like a suit of golden mail;
Flocks along the mead were grazing;
Lambkins frollicked through the vale.
Brooklets gossipped o'er their beauty;
Leaves came down in whisp'ring showers;
And the vine-trees, lush and fruity,
Climbed and clung in am'rous bowers:
Beauty--gladness--
Floated round me everywhere;
Still in sadness
Built I castles in the air--
In the soft and dreamy air.
Far above me, like a spirit,
Rose an alp in proud array,
And my heart so yearned to near it
As I in the valley lay.
Ah, thought I, yon summit seemeth
Like a throne, so pure and bright;
Lo! how grandly-great it gleameth,
Crown'd with everlasting light!
Then I started
From the valley calm and fair,
Hopeful-hearted,
Tow'rds the castle in the air--
High up in the dreamy air.
Many a tortuous path and winding
Rid my soul embattle through;
Many a thorn of bitter finding
Choked my way with perils new:
Upward still, footsore and bleeding,
On with lonesome heart I pressed;
And I heard the chimes receding
In the vale so calm and blest.
Still I wandered
Up the pathway rough and drear,
Till I pondered
By the castle in the air--
Like a spirit in the air.
I had reached the lofty glory;
I had gained the alpine peak;
Lowly lay the world before me--
Yet my heart was like to break!
Where I stood 'twas cold and dreary---
Crown'd with white and glistening snow:
"Ah," I sighed, with heart a-weary--
"Distance lent the golden glow!"
Thus Fame ever
Woos men from earth's valleys fair,
Oft to shiver
Near life's castles in the air--
In the far-off wintry air.