"Eldorado" by Edgar Allen Poe

Gaily bedight a gallant knight
In sunshine and in shadow
Had journeyed long, singing a song
In search of Eldorado

But he grew old, this knight so bold
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found No spoint of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength failed him at length
He met a pilgrim shadow.
"Shadow," said he, "where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the mountains of the moon,
Down the valley of the shadow,
Ride, boldly ride," the shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
--Edgar Allen Poe

I LOVE Edgar Allen Poe. One of my first literary crushes. I spent the summer I turned 14 doing nothing but reading his collected works, and he is by far my first favorite poet. I love the rhythm, I love his themes, I love his words, and I don't even know if that's from memory or from my current taste, but reading Edgar Allen Poe makes me feel like I'm home.