#winkelried

THOU sacred Pile! whose turrets rise From yon steep mountain's loftiest stage, Guarded by lone San Salvador; Sink (if thou must) as heretofore, To sulphurous bolts a sacrifice, But ne'er to human rage! On Horeb's top, on Sinai, deigned To rest the universal Lord: Why leap the fountains from their cells Where everlasting Bounty dwells?-- That, while the Creature is sustained, His God may be adored. Cliffs, fountains, rivers, seasons, times-- Let all remind the soul of heaven; Our slack devotion needs them all; And Faith--so oft of sense the thrall, While she, by aid of Nature, climbs-- May hope to be forgiven. Glory, and patriotic Love, And all the Pomps of this frail "spot Which men call Earth," have yearned to seek, Associate with the simply meek, Religion in the sainted grove, And in the hallowed grot. Thither, in time of adverse shocks, Of fainting hopes and backward wills, Did mighty Tell repair of old-- A Hero cast in Nature's mould, Deliverer of the stedfast rocks And of the ancient hills! 'He', too, of battle-martyrs chief! Who, to recall his daunted peers, For victory shaped an open space, By gathering with a wide embrace, Into his single breast, a sheaf Of fatal Austrian spears. Note: Arnold Winkelried, at the battle of Sempach, broke an Austrian phalanx in this manner. The event is one of the most famous in the annals of Swiss heroism; and pictures and prints of it are frequent throughout the country.