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...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: LYMAN KING by EDGAR LEE MASTERS WHEN I WROTE A LITTLE by HAYDEN CARRUTH FISH-LEAP FALL by ROBERT FROST A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN SENRYU: BLIND DATE by TIMOTHY LIU KEATS TO FANNY BRAWNE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PAULINE BARRETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS NOTHING WILL CURE THE SICK LION BUT TO EAT AN APE' by MARIANNE MOORE |