| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Selected Sonnets.
II. The Alp Rose | | By Henry Ellison (1811–1880) |
| | (From “Mad Moments”)
HAST Thou not bade the Alp Rose bloom to Thee | |
| All-bounteous God! though mortal foot has rare | |
| Or never trod the eternal snows, which there | |
| Worship Thee silently; nor curious eye | |
| Sought in the wilderness Thy testimony? | 5 |
| Let us not idly deem that aught in air | |
| Or earth is barren beauty, so it bear | |
| A witness unto Thee; ’tis hallowed by | |
| That thought, and has a moral beauty far | |
| Beyond the pomp of thrones! That lone flower might | 10 |
| Emblem true piety; which, like a star, | |
| Dwells ’mid a privacy of modest light, | |
| Blessing unseen, unnoticed ’mid the glare; | |
| Her sole reward, the bliss of acting right. | | | | |
|
|
