 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
83
THE FALLS OF THE REICHENBACH
Through houses blackened by the fire's fierce tongue
We crossed the Aar, we clomb the mountainstair,
And sudden o'er a chalet-roof were 'ware
Of a huge cloud of whitest smoke that sprung
Forth from a cleft, and bellowed loud, and clung
And belched as Hell had opened wide on air,
While voices of the doomed in wild despair
O'er Hasli's vale in lamentation hung.
We crossed the Aar, we clomb the mountainstair,
And sudden o'er a chalet-roof were 'ware
Of a huge cloud of whitest smoke that sprung
Forth from a cleft, and bellowed loud, and clung
And belched as Hell had opened wide on air,
While voices of the doomed in wild despair
O'er Hasli's vale in lamentation hung.
There came a child; no fear was in her face,
And following up the Reichenbach, we found
The Rosenlaui's gift of melting snow;
A thousand angel-figures seemed to throw
Hands over head and leap with jubilant sound
In flowing skirts of unimagined grace.
And following up the Reichenbach, we found
The Rosenlaui's gift of melting snow;
A thousand angel-figures seemed to throw
Hands over head and leap with jubilant sound
In flowing skirts of unimagined grace.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |