And thus thy memory is to me Like some enchanted
far-off isle In some tumultuos sea -- Some ocean throbbing far and free With storms -- but where meanwhile Serenest skies continually Just o're that one bright island smile.
In the dim, far-off times when our forefathers were wild, naked savages, they had no books.
For the life of man in those far-off days was wild and rough; it was one long struggle against foes, a struggle which left little room for what was beautiful or tender.
Afterwards, when we had learned that he was the son of a woman who had many years ago ruled a small Bugis state, we came to suspect that the memory of his mother (of whom he spoke with enthusiasm) mingled somehow in his mind with the image he tried to form for himself of the far-off Queen whom he called Great, Invincible, Pious, and Fortunate.
Yet at times he would lean forward and appear to listen as for a far-off note of discord, as if expecting to hear some faint voice, the sound of light footsteps; or he would start half up in his seat, as though he had been familiarly touched on the shoulder.
Finally one of the children inquired why we couldn't hear from Princess Dorothy by wireless telegraph, which would enable her to communicate to the Historian whatever happened in the
far-off Land of Oz without his seeing her, or even knowing just where Oz is.
The
far-off land may have bays, forelands, angles in and out to any number and extent; yet at a distance you see none of these (unless indeed your sun shines bright upon them revealing the projections and retirements by means of light and shade), nothing but a grey unbroken line upon the water.
For this was the homeward-bound fleet from the
far-off ends of the earth, and a Falmouth fruit-schooner, the smallest of them all, was heading the flight.
It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from
far-off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming.
But along with that question, and almost thrusting it away, there was a vision of the old home and the old streets leading to Lantern Yard--and within that vision another, of the thoughts which had been present with him in those
far-off scenes.
As Dolly glanced towards him, and thought of the pain he must have suffered, and the
far-off places in which he had been wandering, and wondered who had been his nurse, and hoped that whoever it was, she had been as kind and gentle and considerate as she would have been, the tears came rising to her bright eyes, one by one, little by little, until she could keep them back no longer, and so before them all, wept bitterly.
One night, when dreaming over ancient books, There came to me a sudden
far-off sound From the south-west.