I Stood Musing in a Black World by Stephen Crane
b'Crane read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\n\\nI Stood Musing in a Black World\\n\\nby Stephen Crane (1871 \\u2013 1900) \\n \\nI stood musing in a black world,\\nNot knowing where to direct my feet.\\nAnd I saw the quick stream of men\\nPouring ceaselessly,\\nFilled with eager faces,\\nA torrent of desire.\\nI called to them,\\n"Where do you go? What do you see?"\\nA thousand voices called to me.\\nA thousand fingers pointed.\\n"Look! look! There!"\\n\\nI know not of it.\\nBut, lo! In the far sky shone a radiance\\nIneffable, divine --\\nA vision painted upon a pall;\\nAnd sometimes it was,\\nAnd sometimes it was not.\\nI hesitated.\\nThen from the stream\\nCame roaring voices,\\nImpatient:\\n"Look! look! There!"\\n\\nSo again I saw,\\nAnd leaped, unhesitant,\\nAnd struggled and fumed\\nWith outspread clutching fingers.\\nThe hard hills tore my flesh;\\nThe ways bit my feet.\\nAt last I looked again.\\nNo radiance in the far sky,\\nIneffable, divine;\\nNo vision painted upon a pall;\\nAnd always my eyes ached for the light.\\nThen I cried in despair,\\n"I see nothing! Oh, where do I go?"\\nThe torrent turned again its faces:\\n"Look! look! There!"\\n\\nAnd at the blindness of my spirit\\nThey screamed,\\n"Fool! fool! fool!"'