Hymn before Sun-Rise, in the Vale of Chamouni

Besides the Rivers, Arve and Arveiron, which have their sources in the foot / of Mont Blanc, five conspicuous torrents rush down its sides; and within a / few paces of the Glaciers, the Gentiana Major grows in immense numbers, / with its "flowers of loveliest blue."

Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star / In his steep course? So long he seems to pause / On thy bald awful head, O sovran BLANC! / The Arve and Arveiron at thy base / Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful Form! / Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, / How silently! Around thee and above / Deep is the air and dark, substantial, black, / An ebon mass: methinks thou piercest it, / As with a wedge! But when I look again, / It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, / Thy habitation from eternity! / O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, / Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, / Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer / I worshipped the Invisible alone.