Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79. | | | | Switzerland: Alps, The | | An Alpine Picture | | Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) |
| | | STAND here and look, and softly hold your breath | |
| Lest the vast avalanche come crashing down! | |
| How many miles away is yonder town | |
| Set flower-wise in the valley? Far beneath— | |
| A scimitar half drawn from out its sheath— | 5 |
| The river curves through meadows newly mown; | |
| The ancient water-courses are all strown | |
| With drifts of snow, fantastic wreath on wreath; | |
| And peak on peak against the turquoise-blue | |
| The Alps like towering campanili stand, | 10 |
| Wondrous, with pinnacles of frozen rain, | |
| Silvery, crystal, like the prism in hue. | |
| O, tell me, love, if this be Switzerland— | |
| Or is it but the frost-work on the pane? | | | | |
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