An Allegory

A portal as of shadowy adamant

Stands yawning on the highway of the life

Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt;

Around it rages an unceasing strife

Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt

The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high

Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky.

And many pass it by with careless tread,

Not knowing that a shadowy ...

Tracks every traveller even to where the dead

Wait peacefully for their companion new;

But others, by more curious humour led,

Pause to examine;--these are very few,

And they learn little there, except to know

That shadows follow them where'er they go.