Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.

Switzerland: Grütli

On a Flower from the Field of Grütli

By Felicia Hemans (1793–1835)

WHENCE art thou, flower? from holy ground,

Where freedom’s foot hath been!

Yet bugle-blast or trumpet sound

Ne’er shook that solemn scene.

Flower of a noble field! thy birth

Was not where spears have crossed,

And shivered helms have strewn the earth,

Midst banners won and lost.

But where the sunny hues and showers

Unto thy cup were given,

There met high hearts at midnight hours,

Pure hands were raised to heaven.

And vows were pledged that man should roam

Through every Alpine dell,

Free as the wind, the torrent’s foam,

The shaft of William Tell.

And prayer, the full deep flow of prayer,

Hallowed the pastoral sod,

And souls grew strong for battle there,

Nerved with the peace of God.

Before the Alps and stars they knelt,

That calm devoted band,

And rose, and made their spirits felt

Through all the mountain land.

Then welcome Grütli’s free-born flower!

Even in thy pale decay

There dwells a breath, a tone, a power,

Which all high thoughts obey.