 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
142
BLANC-SEE AND DAUBENSEE
GEMMI
There is a pool whose waters would beguile
Men to dive down, yea, even till they die,
In liquid depths of lapis lazuli,
With coral wonders and with rainbow wile;
Not far from thence a lake that cannot smile,
A hungry lake with livid lips doth lie,
With face death-pale beneath the sunniest sky,
And glance as cruel as a crocodile.
Men to dive down, yea, even till they die,
In liquid depths of lapis lazuli,
With coral wonders and with rainbow wile;
Not far from thence a lake that cannot smile,
A hungry lake with livid lips doth lie,
With face death-pale beneath the sunniest sky,
And glance as cruel as a crocodile.
Death! Death! or coming swift, or coming slow,
Come not with sweet, delicious guise of cheer,
With rainbow hope of mere escape from ill;
Rather with barrenness and wreathèd snow,
That tells the summit of the pass is near,
And the great vision soon shall life fulfil.
Come not with sweet, delicious guise of cheer,
With rainbow hope of mere escape from ill;
Rather with barrenness and wreathèd snow,
That tells the summit of the pass is near,
And the great vision soon shall life fulfil.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |