 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
11
The Alps
The Alps—the Alps—the joyous Alps,
Are all around me heaving high.
I bow me to their snowy scalps,
That rush into the sky.
Are all around me heaving high.
I bow me to their snowy scalps,
That rush into the sky.
Hail, lordly land of storm and strife,
To poetry and wonder dear!
'Tis worth an age of common life
To feel as I do here:
To poetry and wonder dear!
'Tis worth an age of common life
To feel as I do here:
To look down on that deep-blue lake;
To look up in that glorious sky;
To feel my soul within me wake,
And ask for wings to fly:
To look up in that glorious sky;
To feel my soul within me wake,
And ask for wings to fly:
12
To bound the airy heights along;
Above the floating clouds to stand;
And meet Creation's God among
The wonders of His hand.
Above the floating clouds to stand;
And meet Creation's God among
The wonders of His hand.
Hail, scenes of holy grandeur! hail!
Where mortal sense stands hushed and awed.
Oh, who could gaze on such, and fail
To think of Thee, my God?
Where mortal sense stands hushed and awed.
Oh, who could gaze on such, and fail
To think of Thee, my God?
Alone and dread Thou dwellest here,
The Source and Soul of all I see.
I look around in joy and fear,
And feel I am with Thee!
The Source and Soul of all I see.
I look around in joy and fear,
And feel I am with Thee!
I see Thee on the mountain sit,
At summer's noon, sublime and still;
Or, in the giant shadows flit
Along from hill to hill.
At summer's noon, sublime and still;
Or, in the giant shadows flit
Along from hill to hill.
13
I read Thy presence and Thy power
In each eternal rock I meet;
I trace Thy love in every flower
That blossoms at my feet.
In each eternal rock I meet;
I trace Thy love in every flower
That blossoms at my feet.
Thou speakest from each rolling cloud
That pours its stormy mirth on high,
When cliff to cliff is shouting loud,
Responsive to the sky.
That pours its stormy mirth on high,
When cliff to cliff is shouting loud,
Responsive to the sky.
Thy voice at night is in the sound
Of sinking glaciers, rushing rills,
And avalanches thundering round
Among the startled hills.
Of sinking glaciers, rushing rills,
And avalanches thundering round
Among the startled hills.
The mountain mists, in all their moods,
The snows by earthly feet untrod,
The fells, the forests, and the floods,
Are all instinct with God.
The snows by earthly feet untrod,
The fells, the forests, and the floods,
Are all instinct with God.
14
O regions, wonderful and wild,
Sublimity's inspiring home,
Scenes I have dreamt of since a child,
And longed as now to roam!
Sublimity's inspiring home,
Scenes I have dreamt of since a child,
And longed as now to roam!
And I am here! and I may range
Your length and breadth without control
And feel a world all new and strange
Break in upon my soul!
Your length and breadth without control
And feel a world all new and strange
Break in upon my soul!
Hail, mountain monarchs! hail! Again
Before your reverend feet I bow:
How poor is language to explain
The thoughts that fill me now!
Before your reverend feet I bow:
How poor is language to explain
The thoughts that fill me now!
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