Note 106 — XVII.

Von Haller’s Alps.

The lofty gentian’s head in stately grandeur towers

Far o’er the common herd of vulgar weeds and low;

Beneath his banners serve communities of flowers;

His azure brethren, too, in rev’rence to him bow.

The blossom’s purest gold in curving radiations

Erect upon the stalk, above its gray robe gleams;

The leaflets’ pearly white with deep green variegations

With flashes many-hued of the moist diamond beams.

O Law beneficent! which strength to beauty plighteth,

And to a shape so fair a fairer soul uniteth.

Here on the ground a plant like a gray mist is twining,

In fashion of a cross its leaves by Nature laid;

Part of the beauteous flower, the gilded beak is shining,

Of a fair bird whose shape of amethyst seems made.

There into fingers cleft a polished leaf reposes,

And o’er a limpid brook its green reflection throws;

With rays of white a striped star encloses

The floweret’s disk, where pink flushes its tender snows.

Thus on the trodden heath are rose and emerald glowing,

And e’en the rugged rocks are purple banners showing.