Poems (Hardy)/The shepherd's mountain

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THE SHEPHERD'S MOUNTAIN
J.K.M.
Forbid me not, O friend, in birthday words of praiseTo speak in allegory thus of you,With this excuse,—to wish you joy and length of days.
There dwelt a shepherd, once, beside the sea,And much, they said, of books and men he knew;But all his wisdom fragrance had of woodOr field or mountain; words of his could bePoetic with the waving of a flowering tree,Or strong and serious like the bitter-goodOf herb medicinal; or they could moveWith the majestic motion of a cloud, to proveMajestic truths; but oft in parable they burnedWith mountain images sublime, aglowWith light that always is; and oft they turnedTo holy solitudes upon the heights, to showThat men might learn, like him, to goWhere they could meet with God, and know.And now his words, men thought, of Shasta seemed,And now with some Imperial Mountain gleamed,Whereof he knew the secret places bestThat give the souls of men supremest rest.
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