Three Alpine Sonnets + 

At dawn in silence moves the mighty stream, + 

The silver-crested waves no murmur make; + 

But far away the avalanches wake + 

The rumbling echoes, dull as in a dream; + 

Their momentary thunders, dying, seem + 

To fall into the stillness, flake by flake, + 

And leave the hollow air with naught to break + 

The frozen spell of solitude supreme. + 

At noon unnumbered rills begin to spring + 

Beneath the burning sun, and all the walls + 

Of all the ocean-blue crevasses ring + 

With liquid lyrics of their waterfalls; + 

As if a poet’s heart had felt the glow + 

Of sovereign love, and song began to flow. + 

White Death had laid his pall upon the plain, + 

And crowned the mountain-peaks like monarchs dead; + 

The vault of heaven was glaring overhead + 

With pitiless light that filled my eyes with pain; + 

And while I vainly longed, and looked in vain + 

For sign or trace of life, my spirit said, + 

“Shall any living thing that dares to tread + 

This royal lair of Death escape again?” + 

But even then I saw before my feet + 

A line of pointed footprints in the snow: + 

Some roving chamois, but an hour ago, + 

Had passed this way along his journey fleet, + 

And left a message from a friend unknown + 

To cheer my pilgrim-heart, no more alone. + 

I love the hour that comes, with dusky hair + 

And dewy feet, along the Alpine dells, + 

To lead the cattle forth. A thousand bells + 

Go chiming after her across the fair + 

And flowery uplands, while the rosy flare + 

Of sunset on the snowy mountain dwells, + 

And valleys darken, and the drowsy spells + 

Of peace are woven through the purple air. + 

Dear is the magic of this hour: she seems + 

To walk before the dark by falling rills, + 

And lend a sweeter song to hidden streams; + 

She opens all the doors of night, and fills + 

With moving bells the music of my dreams, + 

That wander far among the sleeping hills. + 