 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
24
MOUNTAIN SCHOLARS
UP THE VITZNAU-STOCK
I heard the cataract bellow its command,
The sorrowing pines send whisper through the glade,
When up the mountain pathway boy and maid—
He with his satchel, she with flowers in hand—
Came, leaving far below their scholar-band.
I asked, ‘How fare you children unafraid?’
‘It is our Father's will, each morn,’ they said,
‘For vale and school we leave our mountain land.’
The sorrowing pines send whisper through the glade,
When up the mountain pathway boy and maid—
He with his satchel, she with flowers in hand—
Came, leaving far below their scholar-band.
I asked, ‘How fare you children unafraid?’
‘It is our Father's will, each morn,’ they said,
‘For vale and school we leave our mountain land.’
Dear children, it is such as you who teach:
Each day from nearer Heaven your feet can bring
An upland blessing to the lowland school;
Mystery of pine-tree music, torrent-speech,
Some words of how obedient flowers may spring
In homes where simple innocence has rule.
Each day from nearer Heaven your feet can bring
An upland blessing to the lowland school;
Mystery of pine-tree music, torrent-speech,
Some words of how obedient flowers may spring
In homes where simple innocence has rule.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |