University of Virginia Library

XXXIII. TO A MOUNTAIN IN SWITZERLAND.—3.

The Spirits of the midnight and noonday
On thee, hoar Mount, obsequiously attend;
Within thy skirts shadow and sunlight play;
And the stars hail thee as their earthly friend:
From their immortal charge the Twins descend;
The Plough awhile forgets his heavenly way;
The Pleiads from their shining cloisters stray;
And the crowned Archer doth his bow unbend.
Thy vastness draws the sphere above thee nearer:
—Or is it that our hearts by thee are raised;
And, strengthened thus, delight with vision clearer
To pore on starry wonders unamazed,
Earth's noblest shape forsaking for the sky,
As life when sweetest makes it sweet to die?