Rugged! Rugged as Parnassus!
Rude, as all roads I have trod
Yet are steeps and stone-strewn passes
Smooth o'erhead, and nearest God.
Here black thunders of my canyon
Shake its walls in Titan wars!
Here white sea-born clouds companion
With such peaks as know the stars.
Steep below me lies the valley,
Deep below me lies the town,
Where great sea-ships ride and rally,
And the world walks up and down.
O, the sea of lights far streaming
When the thousand flags are furled
When the gleaming bay lies dreaming
As it duplicates the world.
The house, known as Joaquin Miller Abbey, is where Joaquin Miller lived from 1886 to his death in 1913. It is in the Oakland Hills area of Oakland, California.
Miller called his home "The Hights" - a deliberate misspelling.
Joaquin Miller House in Oakland Hills, California
Creative Commons image by Rosenzweig.