WRITTEN AT GENEVA .
R USH on, rush on, heaven-tinted Rhone!
Ye deep-blue waves, rush on, rush on!
O'er many a weary league I've past
To gaze upon thy face at last;
And many a league must traverse still,
By spreading main and soaring hill,
Ere aught th' enraptur'd eye shall see
So bright, so blue, save heav'n and thee!
Child of the Alps! loveliest of all
The streams that down their steep sides fall,
The heav'n so near thy nursing-place
Has left its brightness on thy face,
And earth, exulting in her guest,
Gath'ring her noblest and her best
Of lake, mead, mountain, wood, has thrown
All o'er thy path, majestic Rhone!
Sweet summer's eve! how oft I've gazed
On all the magic thou hast rais'd!
I've seen thee on Plinlimmon's steep
Treasures of gold and purple heap;
I've seen thee when Augusta's spires
Seem'd columns of heav'n-kindled fires;
I've seen thy long long lines of glory
Fall o'er the ocean deep and hoary;
But where the mountain-born, the Rhone,
Darts with the lightning's swiftness on;
And where the everlasting Alps
Lift to the sky their snowy scalps;
And where, upon Lake Leman's breast,
Heav'n's azure hues more heav'nly rest,
(As when the prophet's mantle fell,
Twas hallow'd with a double spell;)
There, there, thou spread'st thy loveliest dies,
The mountains mingle with the skies;
The blushing vines and waving corn
Seem children of the sun, new-born;
The soul, caught up on wings of love,
Communes with happier souls above;
Burst is the separating girth,
And earth is heav'n, and heav'n is earth!
Sweet stream! born midst th' eternal hills,
The brightest of a thousand rills;
Heav'n still reflected in thy face,
What course soe'er thy swift waves trace;
And still to th' unfathom'd sea
Speeding, methinks I read in thee,
And thy blue waters, as they roll,
An emblem of the human soul.
Like thee, a thing whose source is found
Far, far above terrestrial ground;
Like thee, it ne'er should, while on earth,
Lose all the splendour of its birth;
But ever bear upon its breast
Celestial images imprest:
Till mingled with th' illimitable sea,
The swelling ocean of Eternity!
R USH on, rush on, heaven-tinted Rhone!
Ye deep-blue waves, rush on, rush on!
O'er many a weary league I've past
To gaze upon thy face at last;
And many a league must traverse still,
By spreading main and soaring hill,
Ere aught th' enraptur'd eye shall see
So bright, so blue, save heav'n and thee!
Child of the Alps! loveliest of all
The streams that down their steep sides fall,
The heav'n so near thy nursing-place
Has left its brightness on thy face,
And earth, exulting in her guest,
Gath'ring her noblest and her best
Of lake, mead, mountain, wood, has thrown
All o'er thy path, majestic Rhone!
Sweet summer's eve! how oft I've gazed
On all the magic thou hast rais'd!
I've seen thee on Plinlimmon's steep
Treasures of gold and purple heap;
I've seen thee when Augusta's spires
Seem'd columns of heav'n-kindled fires;
I've seen thy long long lines of glory
Fall o'er the ocean deep and hoary;
But where the mountain-born, the Rhone,
Darts with the lightning's swiftness on;
And where the everlasting Alps
Lift to the sky their snowy scalps;
And where, upon Lake Leman's breast,
Heav'n's azure hues more heav'nly rest,
(As when the prophet's mantle fell,
Twas hallow'd with a double spell;)
There, there, thou spread'st thy loveliest dies,
The mountains mingle with the skies;
The blushing vines and waving corn
Seem children of the sun, new-born;
The soul, caught up on wings of love,
Communes with happier souls above;
Burst is the separating girth,
And earth is heav'n, and heav'n is earth!
Sweet stream! born midst th' eternal hills,
The brightest of a thousand rills;
Heav'n still reflected in thy face,
What course soe'er thy swift waves trace;
And still to th' unfathom'd sea
Speeding, methinks I read in thee,
And thy blue waters, as they roll,
An emblem of the human soul.
Like thee, a thing whose source is found
Far, far above terrestrial ground;
Like thee, it ne'er should, while on earth,
Lose all the splendour of its birth;
But ever bear upon its breast
Celestial images imprest:
Till mingled with th' illimitable sea,
The swelling ocean of Eternity!