The Beginning

All in a moment, years ago,
The boy I was became a man:
Suddenly my life began!
I saw the world before me— So
That ploughman by his horses stands
Sweating on the first hill's brow,
Having left the riverlands
Furrowed in the vale below,
And sees a mountainside to plough,
Barren rock to blunt his share,
Thunder hanging in the air,
And the black peak above him, bare,
Waiting now.
—Let him plough it if he dare!