Explore "The Hermit" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
To a hunter from the city, / Overtaken by the night, / Spake, in tones of tender pity / For himself, an aged wight:
"I have found the world a fountain / Of deceit and Life a sham.
I have taken to the mountain / And a Holy Hermit am.
"Sternly bent on Contemplation, / Far apart from human kind / In the hill my habitation, / In the Infinite my mind.
"Ten long years I've lived a dumb thing, / Growing bald and bent with dole.
Vainly seeking for a Something / To engage my gloomy soul.
"Gentle Pilgrim, while my roots you / Eat, and quaff my simple drink, / Please suggest whatever suits you / As a Theme for me to Think."
Then the hunter answered gravely: / "From distraction free, and strife, / You could ponder very bravely / On the Vanity of Life."
"O, thou wise and learned Teacher, / You have solved the Problem well -- / You have saved a grateful creature / From the agonies of hell.
"Take another root, another / Cup of water: eat and drink.
Now I have a Subject, brother, / Tell me What, and How, to think."