Romance

Alright, so this post might sound a bit strange. I'm just warning you...No, no I'm kidding it's not that weird. For me.

When we were doing South America (in Destinations I) I heard that name Chimborazo, the name of a famous mountain in Equador. I didn't really know where I had heard it before but I knew I did...Then I looked at the map that my teacher had given us and I also saw the name Cotopaxi...and then I definitely knew that these two names had somehow gone hand in hand in a memory of mine.
But really I had no clue what they were from (besides places in Equador), so I kind of just let it pass (this was a few weeks ago)

And then I just started to remember, they were from a poem that I used to LOVE (before I knew Equador, and when I barely knew what a poem was). I remember reading it in a book that we have somewhere in the house, a red book.
And I remember how when I read it it made me feel. I remember not knowing what I felt...but I did feel something. And it just made me feel ...nice reading it. (Btw nice is such an overused but under appreciated word. Saying something nice doesn't mean it's bad or even less than something else...it's just...nice :) (Not that it's a happy-go-lucky kinda poem either, it's just...a really great poem) It was romantic (that much I could tell) but not in a man and woman romance kind of way...It was romantic in the same way that a train is...hard to explain but it has that mysterious, romantic, take-you-away kind of feeling.

(I also loved She walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. Same red book. Same feeling of not knowing what the h the authors meant but knowing that they meant something important)

And now I found that poem again!! Not in the red book, but I'm sure that's somewhere around here. It's Romance by W.J. Turner

I hope you read it and love it as much as I did/do:



When I was but thirteen or so
I went into a golden land,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Took me by the hand.

My father died, my brother too,
They passed like fleeting dreams,
I stood where Popocatapetl
In the sunlight gleams.

I dimly heard the master's voice
And boys far-off at play,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Had stolen me away.

I walked in a great golden dream
To and fro from school--
Shining Popocatapetl
The dusty streets did rule.

I walked home with a gold dark boy,
And never a word I'd say,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Had taken my speech away:

I gazed entranced upon his face
Fairer than any flower--
O shining Popocatapetl
It was thy magic hour:

The houses, people, traffic seemed
Thin fading dreams by day,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
They had stolen my soul away!