World-Strangeness

Strange the world about me lies,

Never yet familiar grown --

Still disturbs me with surprise,

Haunts me like a face half known.

In this house with starry dome,

Floored with gemlike plains and seas,

Shall I never feel at home,

Never wholly be at ease?

On from room to room I stray,

Yet my Host can ne'er espy,

And I know not to this day

Whether guest, or captive I.

So, betwixt the starry dome

And the floor of plains and seas,

I have never felt at home,

Never wholly been at ease.