FAR off the old snows ever new With silver edges cleft the blue Aloft, alone, divine; The sunny meadows silent slept, Silence the sombre armies kept, The vanguard of the pine. In that thin air the birds are still, No ringdove murmurs on the hill Nor mating cushat calls; But gay cicalas singing sprang, And waters from the forest sang The song of waterfalls. O Fate! a few enchanted hours Beneath the firs, among the flowers, High on the lawn we lay, Then turned again, contented well, While bright about us flamed and fell The rapture of the day. And softly with a guileless awe Beyond the purple lake she saw The embattled summits glow; She saw the glories melt in one, The round moon rise, while yet the sun Was rosy on the snow. Then like a newly singing bird The child's soul in her bosom stirred; I know not what she sung; -- Because the soft wind caught her hair, Because the golden moon was fair, Because her heart was young. I would her sweet soul ever may Look thus from those glad eyes and gray, Unfearing, undefiled: I love her; when her face I see, Her simple presence wakes in me The imperishable child. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BABY MAY by WILLIAM COX BENNETT THE SPARROW by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR LANCER by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE HOUSE OF LIFE: THE SONNET (INTRODUCTION) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE WELCOME TO ALEXANDRA by ALFRED TENNYSON THE DESPAIRING LOVER by WILLIAM WALSH (1663-1707) PAMPINEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |