Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.
To a Flower on the Skirts of Mont Blanc
By Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814–1902)W
O’er thee, small flower, my wearied eyes I bent,
And rested on that humbler vision long.
Is there less beauty in thy purple tent
Outspread, perchance a boundless firmament
O’er viewless myriads which beneath thee throng,
Than in that mount whose sides, with ruin hung,
Frown o’er black glens and gorges thunder-rent?
Is there less mystery? Wisely if we ponder,
Thine is the mightier marvel. Life in thee
Is strong as in cherubic wings that wander,
Seeking the limits of Infinity;—
Life, life to be transmitted, not to expire
Till yonder snowy vault shall melt in the last fire!