 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
61
SUNRISE FROM MONTE MOTTERONE
Pale Lago Maggiore lay below,
And stretched a death-white arm toward the day;
Lombardia's plain was veiled, and Toche grey
Swept down dark vales to livid Orphano;
Far to the west, with her nine peaks of snow,
Stood Monte Rosa, ghostlike—you would say
No sun could ever rise to chase away
Such lifeless shadow with triumphant glow.
And stretched a death-white arm toward the day;
Lombardia's plain was veiled, and Toche grey
Swept down dark vales to livid Orphano;
Far to the west, with her nine peaks of snow,
Stood Monte Rosa, ghostlike—you would say
No sun could ever rise to chase away
Such lifeless shadow with triumphant glow.
But sudden, eastward, under bars of gold,
Gleamed the first glorious promise of the morn,
And Monte Rosa trembled into flame:
Then all the valleys purpled, fold on fold,
The long lake lightened, over miles of corn
The Sun, the Bringer of life's gladness, came!
Gleamed the first glorious promise of the morn,
And Monte Rosa trembled into flame:
Then all the valleys purpled, fold on fold,
The long lake lightened, over miles of corn
The Sun, the Bringer of life's gladness, came!
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |