AN ECLIPSE AMONG THE ALPS.
BY H. F. HEGNER, DECORAH, IOWA.
Far along the frozen glaciers
Where the milky waters leap,
Through the fresh and quiet valleys,
Down the gorges wild and deep.
Creeps the night: The stars are shining
In the twilight and the gloom:
Drifting through the Alpine heavens,
Gently shines the rising moon.
Now she’s climbing upward; shadows
Dropping from the summit’s crest,
Wrap the valleys in the darkness,
Slumber on the mountain’s breast.
But the earth has trailed her shadow
Far out into empty space;
And the moon walks through the shadow
With earth’s image on her face.
Oh, how often has that journey
By a human soul been made;
Passing through this world of trouble,
Into sunshine—out of shade!
Long I watch her evening journey
Far above the mountain’s reach:
Her sad face is almost human,
With an eloquence of speech.
For my soul is ever climbing,
Through an Alpine world of thought;
Giant Blancs to be surmounted
Icy battles to be fought.
—Dubuque Herald.