| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Nearing the Snow-Line | | By Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) |
| | | SLOW toiling upward from the misty vale, | |
| I leave the bright enamelled zones below; | |
| No more for me their beauteous bloom shall glow, | |
| Their lingering sweetness load the morning gale; | |
| Few are the slender flowerets, scentless, pale, | 5 |
| That on their ice-clad stems all trembling blow | |
| Along the margin of unmelting snow; | |
| Yet with unsaddened voice thy verge I hail, | |
| White realm of peace above the flowering-line; | |
| Welcome thy frozen domes, thy rocky spires! | 10 |
| O’er thee undimmed the moon-girt planets shine, | |
| On thy majestic altars fade the fires | |
| That filled the air with smoke of vain desires, | |
| And all the unclouded blue of heaven is thine! | | | | |
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