| |
| THE SHADES of night were falling fast, | |
| As though an Alpine village passed | |
| A youth, who bore, ’mid snow and ice, | |
| A banner with the strange device— | |
| Excelsior! | 5 |
| |
| His brow was sad; his eye beneath | |
| Flashed like a falchion from its sheath; | |
| And like a silver clarion rung | |
| The accents of that unknown tongue— | |
| Excelsior! | 10 |
| |
| In happy homes he saw the light | |
| Of household fires gleam warm and bright; | |
| Above, the spectral glaciers shone, | |
| And from his lips escaped a groan— | |
| Excelsior! | 15 |
| |
| “Try not the pass,” the old man said: | |
| “Dark lowers the tempest overhead; | |
| The roaring torrent is deep and wide!” | |
| And loud that clarion voice replied, | |
| Excelsior! | 20 |
| |
| “O stay,” the maiden said, “and rest | |
| Thy weary head upon this breast!” | |
| A tear stood in his bright blue eye, | |
| But still he answered, with a sigh, | |
| Excelsior! | 25 |
| |
| “Beware the pine-tree’s withered branch! | |
| Beware the awful avalanche!” | |
| This was the peasant’s last good-night: | |
| A voice replied, far up the height, | |
| Excelsior! | 30 |
| |
| At break of day, as heavenward | |
| The pious monks of Saint Bernard | |
| Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, | |
| A voice cried, through the startled air, | |
| Excelsior! | 35 |
| |
| A traveller, by the faithful hound, | |
| Half buried in the snow was found, | |
| Still grasping in his hand of ice | |
| That banner with the strange device— | |
| Excelsior! | 40 |
| |
| There in the twilight cold and gray, | |
| Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, | |
| And from the sky, serene and far, | |
| A voice fell, like a falling star— | |
| Excelsior! | 45 |
| |
