 | Later Lays and Lyrics |  |
Lines Suggested by a Tableau Vivant, representing NAPOLEON CROSSING MOUNT ST. BERNARD.
I thought that Death had swallowed in his gulf
“The mightest genius of five thousand years;”
But there he sits upon his rearing steed,
Tall Alpine peaks before him, and behind,
His weary cohorts struggling through the snow,
And dragging up the steep dismounted guns,
Lashed firmly in rude troughs of hollowed pine.
They falter in their task-work, but the drums
Beat hurriedly the charge, and fainting forms
Change into figures of resistless power,
And fierce eyes flash, as if the foe were near.
It cannot be illusion, or the work
Of wondrous sorcery; for, lo! the flag
The tri-color that flapped its glorious folds
In conquered capitals—is streaming forth
Its gorgeous splendor to the freezing blast.
Power to conceive, and will to execute,
On the great captain's face, are deeply stamped;
And in his glance there is a gleam of joy,
As if he scorned the vale, the level plain,
And loved the home of eagles and of storms.
“The mightest genius of five thousand years;”
But there he sits upon his rearing steed,
Tall Alpine peaks before him, and behind,
His weary cohorts struggling through the snow,
And dragging up the steep dismounted guns,
Lashed firmly in rude troughs of hollowed pine.
They falter in their task-work, but the drums
Beat hurriedly the charge, and fainting forms
Change into figures of resistless power,
And fierce eyes flash, as if the foe were near.
It cannot be illusion, or the work
Of wondrous sorcery; for, lo! the flag
The tri-color that flapped its glorious folds
In conquered capitals—is streaming forth
Its gorgeous splendor to the freezing blast.
27
On the great captain's face, are deeply stamped;
And in his glance there is a gleam of joy,
As if he scorned the vale, the level plain,
And loved the home of eagles and of storms.
Henceforth I will believe the legends strange
Of wizard Merlin and Agrippa told;
For Art a triumph has achieved to-night,
That throws in shade their most potential charms—
Snatched from the gloomy Past his iron keys,
And wove a spell that back to mortal gaze,
Summons the man of destiny once more;
Regardless of the threatening avalanche,
By thundering torrent and the mountain gorge,
Forcing a passage to Marengo's field.
Of wizard Merlin and Agrippa told;
For Art a triumph has achieved to-night,
That throws in shade their most potential charms—
Snatched from the gloomy Past his iron keys,
And wove a spell that back to mortal gaze,
Summons the man of destiny once more;
Regardless of the threatening avalanche,
By thundering torrent and the mountain gorge,
Forcing a passage to Marengo's field.
| Later Lays and Lyrics | |