SISTER, we bid you welcome, -- we who stand On the high table-land; We who have climbed life's slippery Alpine slope, And rest, still leaning on the staff of hope, Looking along the silent Mer de Glace, Leading our footsteps where the dark crevasse Yawns in the frozen sea we all must pass, -- Sister, we clasp your hand! Rest with us in the hour that Heaven has lent Before the swift descent. Look! the warm sunbeams kiss the glittering ice; See! next the snow-drift blooms the edelweiss; The mated eagles fan the frosty air; Life, beauty, love, around us everywhere, And, in their time, the darkening hours that bear Sweet memories, peace, content. Thrice welcome! shining names our missals show Amid their rubrics' glow, But search the blazoned record's starry line, What halo's radiance fills the page like thine? Thou who by some celestial clue couldst find The way to all the hearts of all mankind, On thee, already canonized, enshrined, What more can Heaven bestow! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: LILLI ALM by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 28 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A BROOK IN THE CITY by ROBERT FROST ON THE SLAIN AT CHICKAMAUGA by HERMAN MELVILLE THE BELLS OF LONDON by MOTHER GOOSE THE SECOND MOTHERHOOD by ST. CLAIR ADAMS |