 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
147
THE CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
AT THE SCHWARZ-SEE, ZERMATT
By the dark lake beside sad Hörnli laid
There stands a little solitary shrine,
Raised by rude hands of men who tend the kine,
In simple love laboriously made;
And there the herdsman may implore the aid
Of Her whose presence pure as snow can shine,
Infrequent priests may offer rites divine,
And pilgrim prayers and litanies be said.
There stands a little solitary shrine,
Raised by rude hands of men who tend the kine,
In simple love laboriously made;
And there the herdsman may implore the aid
Of Her whose presence pure as snow can shine,
Infrequent priests may offer rites divine,
And pilgrim prayers and litanies be said.
Thereover Cervin casts a shadow prone,
And thither, overshadowed by great loss,
The heart that in its silence pain must bear
May come, and feel uplifted by the cross,
Know in the wilderness a Saviour near,
And in the desert dare to be alone.
And thither, overshadowed by great loss,
The heart that in its silence pain must bear
May come, and feel uplifted by the cross,
Know in the wilderness a Saviour near,
And in the desert dare to be alone.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |