Hymn An ebon mass: methinks thou piercest it, O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, 1431 So sweet, we know not we are listening to it, As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven! Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou first and chief, sole sovereign of the Vale! Or when they climb the sky or when they sink; And you, ye five wild torrents fiercely glad! *,, Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, Unceasing thunder and eternal foam? And who commanded (and the silence came), Here let the billows stiffen, and have rest? Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Who made you glorious as the Gates of Heaven God! sing ye meadow-streams with gladsome voice! Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost! Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain-storm! Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds! Ye signs and wonders of the elements! Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise! Thou too, hoar Mount! with thy sky-pointing peaks, Oft from whose feet the avalanche, unheard, Shoots downward, glittering through the pure serene, Into the depth of clouds that veil thy breastThou too again, stupendous Mountain! thou That as I raise my head, awhile bowed low In adoration, upward from thy base Slow traveling with dim eyes suffused with tears, To rise before me-Rise, O ever rise! Rise like a cloud of incense, from the Earth! Thou kingly Spirit throned among the hills, The Peaks Thou dread ambassador from Earth to Heaven, And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun, 1433 Samuel Taylor Coleridge [1772-1834] IN the night THE PEAKS Gray, heavy clouds muffled the valleys, And the peaks looked toward God alone. "O Master, that movest the wind with a finger, Grant that we may run swiftly across the world In the morning A noise of men at work came through the clear blue miles. And the little black cities were apparent. "O Master, that knowest the meaning of raindrops, Humble, idle, futile peaks are we. Give voice to us, we pray, O Lord, That we may sing Thy goodness to the sun." In the evening The far valleys were sprinkled with tiny lights. "O Master, Thou that knowest the value of kings and birds, We bow to Thy wisdom, O Lord- In the night Gray, heavy clouds muffled the valleys, Stephen Crane [1870-1900] KINCHINJUNGA NEXT TO EVEREST HIGHEST OF MOUNTAINS O WHITE priest of Eternity, around Of the earth's immemorial sacrifice To Brahma, in whose breath all lives and dies; For in this world too much is overclear, Wherefore continue, still enshrined, thy rites, Yea, wrap thy awful gulfs and acolytes The Hills But since primeval Power upreared thy heights And though thy loftier brother shall be king, And to the mendicant stars and the moon-nun, And till no sacrificial suffering On any shrine is left to tell life's sting. Cale Young Rice [1872 THE HILLS MUSSOORIE and Chakrata Hill The Jumna, through their tether, Foams white or plunges green. The mountains stand and laugh at Time, They watch the ages pass, they bring New centuries to birth. They feel the daybreak shiver, They see Time passing ever, As flows the Jumna River As breaks the white sea-surf. They drink the sun in a golden cup And in blue mist the rain; 1435 With a sudden brightening they meet the lightning And up and back again... |