 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
150
TO R. L. NETTLESHIP
IN CHAMOUNIX CHURCHYARD
If you should be awakened from your sleep,
Here in this snow-crowned, mountain-girdled vale,
Such sounds should greet your ear as could not fail
To lull you back into a slumber deep:
The chime of waters falling from the steep,
The bells that clang towards the milking-pail,
Murmur of bees and song of nightingale,
Where through the copse those sister rivers sweep.
Here in this snow-crowned, mountain-girdled vale,
Such sounds should greet your ear as could not fail
To lull you back into a slumber deep:
The chime of waters falling from the steep,
The bells that clang towards the milking-pail,
Murmur of bees and song of nightingale,
Where through the copse those sister rivers sweep.
But if one voice should mingle with the sound—
A voice you knew in college days of old—
Crying, ‘Come back, fulfil your earthly span!’
I know your words would leap from underground,
And say, ‘God hath His helpers manifold,
Their hands shall finish what my heart began.’
A voice you knew in college days of old—
Crying, ‘Come back, fulfil your earthly span!’
I know your words would leap from underground,
And say, ‘God hath His helpers manifold,
Their hands shall finish what my heart began.’
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |