Written Upon the Top of Ben Nevis + 

Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud + 

Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist! + 

I look into the chasms, and a shroud + 

Vaporous doth hide them,⁠—just so much wist + 

Mankind do know of hell; I look o’erhead, + 

And there is sullen mist,⁠—even so much + 

Mankind can tell of heaven; mist is spread + 

Before the earth, beneath me,⁠—even such, + 

Even so vague is man’s sight of himself! + 

Here are the craggy stones beneath my feet,⁠— + 

Thus much I know that, a poor witless elf, + 

I tread on them,⁠—that all my eye doth meet + 

Is mist and crag, not only on this height, + 

But in the world of thought and mental might! + 