Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ALPS, by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ALPS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I've roamed amongst the eternal alps
Last Line: Thus hecla, etna feel; and all, save ye, around.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cornwall, Barry; Proctor, Bryan Waller
Subject(s): Alps; Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


I'VE roamed amongst the eternal Alps. I've stood
And gazed on the diminished world below;
Marking, at frightful distance, field and flood,
And spire and town, like things of pygmy show,
Shrink into nothing: while those peaks of snow
(Which yet the winds themselves but seldom climb)
Arose like giants from the void below,
But fashioned all for everlasting time:
Imperishable things, -- unstained, as 't were, by crime.

O ye unbending mountains! if ye be
Aught more than human view may contemplate, --
If on your crowned heads the Deity
Rests his bright foot eternal, when in state
He bends arrayed in lightnings, consecrate
Then stand forever. Perchance your heavenward look
Infused such feeling, strong and elevate,
That madness in the soul's bright temple shook.
Silent ye pointed high. I read as from a book.

Sacred ye are. The very eye of God
Darts roses on ye as it shuts at even.
The earthquake on your breast hath never trod;
Nor in vast fragments have your limbs been riven;
Nor through your heart the red volcano driven,
That foams in lava-cataracts from its bound;
Or flings its blazing columns up to heaven,
Sinking in darkening ashes on the ground.
Thus Hecla, Etna feel; and all, save ye, around.





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