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Lyrical Poems

By Francis Turner Palgrave

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IN THE VALLEY OF THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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89

IN THE VALLEY OF THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE

Torrent under lofty beeches, under larches cresting high,
Wanderer by the wandering stranger slipping softly, surely, by:
Born among Savoyan snows, and where Saint Bruno, hid with God,
Far from kindly human love, the road of tears and rapture trod:
Joining then the valley-streamlet, then the goldengreen Isère,
Then, where Rhone's broad currents to the blue their lordly burden bear:

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—Torrent under lofty beeches, under larches cresting high,
Thou art southward set, and southward all thy waters strain and fly:—
Sunny South,—o'er slope and summit the gray mist of olive spread;
Terrace high o'er terrace climbing, lines of white, vine-garlanded:
—Ah, another vision calls me, calls me to the northern isle,
Voices from beyond the mountain: smiles that dim the sun's own smile:
And I set my soul against thee, water of the southern sea:
—Thine are not the currents toward the haven where my heart would be.