Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Bridge of Cloud lyrics

Burn, O evening hearth, and waken   Pleasant visions, as of old! Though the house by winds be shaken,   Safe I keep this room of gold! Ah, no longer wizard Fancy   Builds her castles in the air, Luring me by necromancy   Up the never-ending stair! But, instead, she builds me bridges   Over many a dark ravine, Where beneath the gusty ridges   Cataracts dash and roar unseen. And I cross them, little heeding   Blast of wind or torrent's roar, As I follow the receding   Footsteps that have gone before. Naught avails the imploring gesture,   Naught avails the cry of pain! When I touch the flying vesture,   'T is the gray robe of the rain. Baffled I return, and, leaning   O'er the parapets of cloud, Watch the mist that intervening   Wraps the valley in its shroud. And the sounds of life ascending   Faintly, vaguely, meet the ear, Murmur of bells and voices blending   With the rush of waters near. Well I know what there lies hidden,   Every tower and town and farm, And again the land forbidden   Rea**umes its vanished charm. Well I know the secret places,   And the nests in hedge and tree; At what doors are friendly faces,   In what hearts are thoughts of me. Through the mist and darkness sinking,   Blown by wind and beaten by shower, Down I fling the thought I'm thinking,   Down I toss this Alpine flower.