Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ALPINE PICTURE, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ALPINE PICTURE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Stand here and look, and softly hold your breath
Last Line: Or is it but the frost-work on the pane?
Subject(s): Alps; Mountains; Switzerland; Hills; Downs (great Britain); Swiss


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?





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