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Home  »  Parnassus  »  William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

Snow

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

(See full text.)

FLEET the Tartar’s reinless steed,

But fleeter far the pinions of the wind,

Which from Siberia’s caves the monarch freed,

And sent him forth, with squadrons of his kind,

And bade the snow their ample backs bestride,

And to the battle ride:

No pitying voice commands a halt,

No courage can repel the dire assault:

Distracted, spiritless, benumbed, and blind,

Whole legions sink, and, in an instant, find

Burial and death: look for them, and descry,

When morn returns, beneath the clear blue sky,

A soundless waste, a trackless vacancy!