Was it a dream? We sail’d, I thought we sail’d,
Martin and I, down the green Alpine stream,
Border’d, each bank, with pines; the morning sun,
On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops,
On the red pinings of their forest-floor,
Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines
The mountain-skirts, with all their sylvan change
Of bright-leaf’d chestnuts and moss’d walnut-trees
And the frail scarlet-berried ash, began.
Swiss chalets glitter’d on the dewy slopes,
And from some swarded shelf, high up, there came
Notes of wild pastoral music–over all
Ranged, diamond-bright, the eternal wall of snow.
Upon the mossy rocks at the stream’s edge,
Back’d by the pines, a plank-built cottage stood,
Bright in the sun; the climbing gourd-plant’s leaves
Muffled its walls, and on the stone-strewn roof
Lay the warm golden gourds; golden, within,
Under the eaves, peer’d rows of Indian corn.
We shot beneath the cottage with the stream.
On the brown, rude-carved balcony, two forms
Came forth–Olivia’s, Marguerite! and thine.
Clad were they both in white, flowers in their breast;
Straw hats bedeck’d their heads, with ribbons blue,
Which danced, and on their shoulders, fluttering, play’d.
They saw us, they conferred; their bosoms heaved,
And more than mortal impulse fill’d their eyes.
Their lips moved; their white arms, waved eagerly,
Flash’d once, like falling streams; we rose, we gazed.
One moment, on the rapid’s top, our boat
Hung poised–and then the darting river of Life
(Such now, methought, it was), the river of Life,
Loud thundering, bore us by; swift, swift it foam’d,
Black under cliffs it raced, round headlands shone.
Soon the plank’d cottage by the sun-warm’d pines
Faded–the moss–the rocks; us burning plains,
Bristled with cities, us the sea received.
(Matthew Arnold)
More Poetry from Matthew Arnold:
Matthew Arnold Poems based on Topics: Life, Mind, Thought & Thinking, Dreams, Snow, Eternity, Flowers, Cities, Morning, Boredom- Stanzas In Memory Of The Author Of 'Obermann' (Matthew Arnold Poems)
- Thyrsis: A Monody (Matthew Arnold Poems)
- The Scholar-Gyps (Matthew Arnold Poems)
- The Church Of Brou (Matthew Arnold Poems)
- Epilogue To Lessing's Laocooen (Matthew Arnold Poems)
- A Summer Night (Matthew Arnold Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Life Poems, Mind Poems, Dreams Poems, Flowers Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Morning Poems, Snow Poems, Eternity Poems, Cities Poems, Boredom PoemsBased on Keywords: gourds, bristled, swarded, sun-warm, chalets, walnut-trees, stone-strewn, rude-carved, faded-the, diamond-bright, mountain-skirts