 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
SONNET PREFATORY
TO JOHN RUSKIN
February 8th, 1899
There was no snow on Coniston Old Man,
Nor couched the Langdale Lions grizzled-gray,
It seemed the winter had not come that way,
And endless spring the golden age began.
And you, for whom this earth's allotted span,
The four-score summers of our mortal day,
Had dawned—you heard at Brantwood voices say,
‘Strong run your founts of thought as first they ran.’
Nor couched the Langdale Lions grizzled-gray,
It seemed the winter had not come that way,
And endless spring the golden age began.
And you, for whom this earth's allotted span,
The four-score summers of our mortal day,
Had dawned—you heard at Brantwood voices say,
‘Strong run your founts of thought as first they ran.’
O joyful healer of dull labour's hours!
O brave revealer of dark mammon's sin!
O sure, swift feeler for our people's woe!
We bring the laurel chaplet and the flowers,
Such crown as angel ministers may win,
To utter something of the debt we owe.
O brave revealer of dark mammon's sin!
O sure, swift feeler for our people's woe!
We bring the laurel chaplet and the flowers,
Such crown as angel ministers may win,
To utter something of the debt we owe.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |