 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
16
GOING TO CHURCH AT OB-BÜRGEN
BÜRGENSTOCK
They leave the orchards, pass the wayside shrine,
The path is hard, and rest is pleasant there;
So by the stream toward the church they fare
Snow-white against a circling wall of pine.
No need for bells; the silver bells of kine
That sound to milking, serve as call for prayer;
No need for sermon; blossoms everywhere
Bid hope for fruit, the sap is in the vine;—
The path is hard, and rest is pleasant there;
So by the stream toward the church they fare
Snow-white against a circling wall of pine.
No need for bells; the silver bells of kine
That sound to milking, serve as call for prayer;
No need for sermon; blossoms everywhere
Bid hope for fruit, the sap is in the vine;—
But as they enter to their chapel-porch,
And think of that dear life to duty vowed,
Who gave his heart that others here might pray,
They feel Christ present: as they leave the church,
Pilatus rears his head, and speaks aloud
Of One who cast a dearer Life away.
And think of that dear life to duty vowed,
Who gave his heart that others here might pray,
They feel Christ present: as they leave the church,
Pilatus rears his head, and speaks aloud
Of One who cast a dearer Life away.
—The inscription at Ob-Bürgen Church reads as follows:— ‘To the pious and learned Town Councillor and Bailiff of the Chapel, Joseph Francis Fluher of Wyden von Obbergen, who, on the 9th of September 1798, at the first attack of the French, saved this church, on his knees, from being burned; but who, at the second attack, was shot, with his repeated intercessions unheard, and was buried above the Inn.’
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |