Monadnock.

One summer time, with love imbued,     To climb the mount, explore the wood,         Or rove from pole to pole,     Upon Monadnock's brow I stood -         A lone, adventurous soul.     Beyond the Bay State border-line     A sweeping vista, grand and fine,         Embraced the Berkshire hills;     Embosomed hamlets, clumps of pine,         And country domiciles.     Afar, Mount Tom, in verdantique,     And Holyoke, twin companion peak,         Appeared gigantic cones;     The burning sunlight scorched my cheek,         And seemed to melt the stones.     Beneath a gnarled and twisted root     I loosed a pebble with my foot         That leaped the precipice,     And like an arrow seemed to shoot         Adown the deep abyss.     Beside the base that solstice day     A city chap who chanced to stray         Was shooting somewhat, too;     Who, when the nugget sped that way,         His firelock quickly drew.     While right and left he sought the quail,     Or the timid hare that crossed his trail,         Rang out a wild "Ha! ha!"     That might have turned the visage pale         Of a red-skinned Chippewa.     The game was his - for it made him quail;     He flung his gun and fled the vale,         The mountain-dwellers say,     As though pursued by a comet's tail -         And disappeared for aye.