“Passing the Alps” [poem]
Passing the Alps.
To day we pass the Alps,
1
to day
High oer the barrier winds our way
The barrier of boundless length 2
The Queen of nations, 3 in her strength
Considered its recesses lone
Beseeming bulwark for her throne
Until her Carthaginian foe
Had soiled the yet unsullied snow
The eagle drove from her retreat
And woke the echoes from their sleep
That neer had answered before
Save to the Avalanches roar. 4
Methinks upon the mountain side
I see the billows of that tide
Of men and horses headlong driven
As clouds before the blast of heaven
That ever change their hurrying form
In dark foreboding of the storm
When the low suns last light is shed
In glowing streaks of swarthy red
And from his cave with fitful swell
Wakes the wild tempest sounding shell
So see the plumes in dark array
Roll on their yet untrodden way
Unbroken, yet with dreadful sweep
Mark you that stormy changeful deep
Wave after wave is eddying on
And crested casque, and morion,
Flash frequent, as the lightning flies
Among the armies of the skies.
But fiercer storm is gathering now
Than ever broke on Alpine brow
And wild shall the confusion be
The strife of that tremendous sea,
When bursting from the Alpine chain,
It meets the storm on Cannæs plain.— 5
High oer the barrier winds our way
Ruskin's line number
325The barrier of boundless length 2
The Queen of nations, 3 in her strength
Considered its recesses lone
System generated line number
5Beseeming bulwark for her throne
Until her Carthaginian foe
Ruskin's line number
330Had soiled the yet unsullied snow
The eagle drove from her retreat
And woke the echoes from their sleep
System generated line number
10That neer had answered before
Save to the Avalanches roar. 4
Ruskin's line number
335Methinks upon the mountain side
I see the billows of that tide
Of men and horses headlong driven
System generated line number
15As clouds before the blast of heaven
That ever change their hurrying form
Ruskin's line number
340In dark foreboding of the storm
When the low suns last light is shed
In glowing streaks of swarthy red
System generated line number
20And from his cave with fitful swell
Wakes the wild tempest sounding shell
Ruskin's line number
345So see the plumes in dark array
Roll on their yet untrodden way
Unbroken, yet with dreadful sweep
System generated line number
25Mark you that stormy changeful deep
Wave after wave is eddying on
Ruskin's line number
350And crested casque, and morion,
Flash frequent, as the lightning flies
Among the armies of the skies.
System generated line number
30But fiercer storm is gathering now
Than ever broke on Alpine brow
Ruskin's line number
355And wild shall the confusion be
The strife of that tremendous sea,
When bursting from the Alpine chain,
System generated line number
35It meets the storm on Cannæs plain.— 5