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 -- 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, 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? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR WALT WHITMAN by DAVID IGNATOW TO JOHN BROWN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ON A TUFT OF GRASS by EMMA LAZARUS EPITAPH IN A CHURCH-YARD IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA by AMY LOWELL ACROSS THE RED SKY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD NORTH WIND TO DUTIFUL BEAST MIDWAY BETWEEN DIAL & FOOT OF GARDEN CLOCK by MARIANNE MOORE |