(SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN AT A HAMLET NEAR THE FOOT OF MONT BLANC) . NOT from the sands or cloven rocks, Thou rapid Arve! thy waters flow; Nor earth within its bosom, locks Thy dark unfathomed wells below. Thy springs are in the cloud, thy stream Begins to move and murmur first Where ice-peaks feel the noonday beam, Or rain-storms on the glacier burst Born where the thunder and the blast, And morning's earliest light are born, Thou rushest swoln, and loud, and fast, By these low homes, as if in scorn: Yet humbler springs yield purer waves; And brighter, glassier streams than thine, Sent up from earth's unlighted caves, With heaven's own beam and image shine. Yet stay! for here are flowers and trees; Warm rays on cottage roofs are here, And laugh of girls, and hum of bees -- Here linger till thy waves are clear. Thou heedest not -- thou hastest on; From steep to steep thy torrent falls, Till, mingling with the mighty Rhone, It rests beneath Geneva's walls. Rush on -- but were there one with me That loved me, I would light my hearth Here, where with God's own majesty Are touched the features of the earth. By these old peaks, white, high, and vast, Still rising as the tempests beat, Here would I dwell, and sleep, at last, Among the blossoms at their feet. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE KING OF SPAIN by MAXWELL BODENHEIM A PORTRAIT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE BALLAD OF THE DARK LADIE; A FRAGMENT by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE FRIENDS BEYOND by THOMAS HARDY THE KNIGHTS: THE POET AND HIS RIVALS by ARISTOPHANES THE BRIDES' TRAGEDY: ACT 3, SCENE 2 by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE LAST MAN: SPEAKER'S MEANING DIMLY DESCRIBED by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |