Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SUNDAY ON MOUNT HOLYOKE, by JAMES FREEMAN COLMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SUNDAY ON MOUNT HOLYOKE, by                    
First Line: I've climbed, with slippery, toiling feet
Last Line: Seemeth more near to god.
Subject(s): Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts


I'VE climbed, with slippery, toiling feet,
The cliff, beneath whose verge,
Far down, wide-waving woodlands beat
Their greenly rippling surge.

With rustling skirts the zephyr treads
The undulating trees,
And azure harebells nod their heads,
Rung by the passing breeze.

Mid fields of variegated grain
The river lies asleep,
While the stern mountains to the plain
With softened outline sweep.

And, hand in hand, around the vale,
Clad in blue autumn-mist,
They stand, that naught the spot assail
The loving sun hath kissed.

On the green hillside lowing kine
Are heard, and bleating flocks,
And, where the farmyard roofings shine,
The shrilly crowing cocks.

But naught of sight or sound doth mar
The holy Sabbath-time,
Where the white belfry gleams afar
Whispers the village-chime.

Like a fond mother's kiss, the scene
Soothes the unrestful brain;
Earth's love, so smilingly serene,
Wins the sick soul from pain.

Here are no traces to record
Man's crimes or his distress;
The brooding spirit looks abroad
In happy loneliness.

How spiritual seems the place!
The blue, unclouded skies
Look down, as when a thoughtful face
To yearning dreams replies.

'T is well to kneel in pillared aisle,
And swell prayer's choral tone;
But holiest feelings crave awhile
To find themselves alone.

And as the landscape, viewed from hence,
Dwindles in sight and sound,
While heaven, in still magnificence,
Spreads broader arms around;

So, from this lofty mountain-goal
To which my feet have trod,
Life's objects lessen, -- and the soul
Seemeth more near to God.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net