High on the sacred mountain    Up the seven thousand stairs    In the golden light of autumn    There was magic in the air       Clouds surrounded the summit    The wind blew strong and cold    Among the silent temples    And the writing carved in gold    Somewhere in my instincts    The primitive took hold...       I stood at the top of the mountain    And China sang to me    In the peaceful haze of harvest time    A song of eternity --       If you raise your hands to heaven    You will live a hundred years    I stood there like a mystic    Lost in the atmosphere       The clouds were suddenly parted    For a moment I could see    The patterns of the landscape    Reaching to the eastern sea    I looked upon a presence    Spanning forty centuries...       I thought of time and distance    The hardships of history    I heard the hope and the hunger    When China sang to me...