Poems, translated and original

Chapter 25: O’ER THE FAR MOUNTAIN PEAK ON HIGH.

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About This Book

A compact volume of translated and original lyric poems paired with a short tragic drama. The poems range from elegiac meditations on death, memory, and the fate of poets to vivid nature pieces about lakes, seas, and changing skies; they also include mythic and historical reflections, paraphrases of sacred texts, and shorter lyrical forms such as sonnets and songs. Recurrent concerns are remembrance versus oblivion, the consolations of landscape, poetic vocation, and the ceremonial practices surrounding burial, while the concluding tragedy adapts a Venetian incident into dramatic scenes.

O’ER THE FAR MOUNTAIN PEAK ON HIGH.

O’er the far mountain peak on high

First shines the morning’s ray;

And latest from the crimsoned sky

The beam of parting day.

Yet there, to greet the partial light,

Nor flowers nor verdure bloom;

But barren all—though coldly bright—

And cheerless as the tomb.

While in the modest vale’s recess,

Where sunlight scarce descends,

Fresh flowerets spring the beam to bless,

And grateful foliage bends.

Thus hearts that bask in fortune’s smile,

Undimmed by clouds of care,

Feel not the joys their hours beguile,

Which humbler bosoms share.