Sunset on the Cunimbla Valley, Blue Mountains by Douglas B. W. Sladen. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Sunset on the Cunimbla Valley, Blue Mountains

Douglas B. W. Sladen (b. 1856)


I SAT upon a windy mountain height,
On a huge rock outstanding from the rest;
The sun had sunk behind a neighboring crest,
Leaving chill shade; but looking down, my sight
Beheld the vale still bathed in his warm light	5
And of the perfect peace of eve possessed,
No wave upon the forest on its breast
And all its park-like glades with sunshine bright.
It put me into mind of the old age
Of one who leaves ambition’s rocks and peaks	10
To those inhabited by nobler rage,
And still existence in life’s valleys seeks;
His is the peaceful eve; but then one hour
Of mountain life is worthy his twenty four.