 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
70
A STORM
ON MONTE GENEROSO
Through fragrant beechen groves we speed our way;Below, the villages from steep to steep
Crowd round their churches close, like flocks of sheep
Huddled about their shepherds in dismay;
The Lombard plain's great level—blue and grey,
Through which the coiling rivers gleam and sweep
Like a sun-smitten, sail-flecked, shadowy deep—
Rolls into distance, with a vast inlay
Of towns and towers unnumbered; furthest seen,
A snowy bar of never-melting cloud,
Borne high on purple wings, the mountains stand,
And sudden from the peaks of Oberland
To Piedmont's nearest spur of misty green
Fierce lightnings flash, the thunder peals aloud.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |