Upon the Heights

And victor of life and silence,

I stood upon the Heights; triumphant,

With upturned eyes, I stood,

And smiled unto the sun, and sang

A beautifully sad farewell unto the dying day.

And my thoughts and the eve gathered

Their serpentine mysteries around me,

My thoughts like alien breezes,

The eve like a fragrant legend.

My feeling was that I stood as one

Serenely poised for flight, as a muse

Of golden melody and lofty grace.

Yea, I stood as one scorning the swords

And wanton menace of the cities.

The sun had heavily sunk into the seas beyond,

And left me a tempting sweet and twilight.

The eve with trailing shadows westward

Swept on, and the lengthened shadows of trees

Disappeared: how silently the songs of silence

Steal into my soul! And still I stood

Among the crickets, in the beauteous profundity

Sung by stars; and I saw me

Softly melted into the eve. The moon

Slowly rose: my shadow on the ground

Dreamily began a dreamy roam,

And I upward smiled silent welcome.

Credit

This poem is in the public domain.

About this Poem

“Upon the Heights” was published in From the Eastern Sea (Mitchell Kennerley, 1910).

Author

Yone Noguchi

Yone Noguchi, the first Japanese-born writer to publish poetry in English, was born in 1875 in Tsushima. He lived and worked in San Francisco, and was the author of numerous books of poetry and prose. He died Toyooka-mura on July 13, 1947.

Date Published

10/21/2017