Alone

From childhood's hour I have not been As others were - I have not seen As others saw - I could not bring My passions from a common spring - From the same source I have not taken My sorrow - I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone - And all I loved - I loved alone - Then in my childhood - in the dawn Of a most stormy life - was drawn From every depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still - From the torrent, or the fountain - From the red cliff of the mountain - From the sun that 'round me rolled In its autumn tint of gold - From the lightning in the sky As it passed me flying by - From the thunder, and the storm - And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view.