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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.

Switzerland: Reuss, the River

Urseren

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)


FROM the green vale of Urseren smooth and wide

Descend we now, the maddened Reuss our guide;

By rocks that, shutting out the blessed day,

Cling tremblingly to rocks as loose as they;

By cells upon whose image, while he prays,

The kneeling peasant scarcely dares to gaze;

By many a votive death-cross planted near,

And watered duly with the pious tear,

That faded silent from the upward eye,

Unmoved with each rude form of peril nigh;

Fixed on the anchor left by Him who saves

Alike in whelming snows and roaring waves.