 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
89
ON THE GEISSHORN
SCHYNIGE PLATTE
If one should ask where mortal man may stand
Who feels for this life's littleness forlorn,
To know cloud mysteries, learn how Heaven is born,
How earth was built, and with what prodigal hand
She yields her jewels when Junetide gives command—
Here would I set him on this grassy horn,
When unimaginably bright the morn
Shines on the silent peaks of Oberland.
Who feels for this life's littleness forlorn,
To know cloud mysteries, learn how Heaven is born,
How earth was built, and with what prodigal hand
She yields her jewels when Junetide gives command—
Here would I set him on this grassy horn,
When unimaginably bright the morn
Shines on the silent peaks of Oberland.
Then the deep gorge is glad with torrent tone
That bids the great world rest not but rejoice,
Then in the ‘Vale of Waters’ to the dawn
The Staubbach waves her flag of rainbow lawn,
And hard by, seated on his mighty throne,
The young glad day sends forth a glorious voice.
That bids the great world rest not but rejoice,
Then in the ‘Vale of Waters’ to the dawn
The Staubbach waves her flag of rainbow lawn,
And hard by, seated on his mighty throne,
The young glad day sends forth a glorious voice.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |