I saw them—and they were the same,

They were not changed like me in frame;

I saw their thousand years of snow

On high—their wide long lake below,[g]

And the blue Rhone in fullest flow;[29]

I heard the torrents leap and gush

O'er channelled rock and broken bush;

I saw the white-walled distant town,[30]

And whiter sails go skimming down;340

And then there was a little isle,[31]

Which in my very face did smile,

The only one in view;

A small green isle, it seemed no more,[32]

Scarce broader than my dungeon floor,

But in it there were three tall trees,

And o'er it blew the mountain breeze,

And by it there were waters flowing,

And on it there were young flowers growing,

Of gentle breath and hue.350

The fish swam by the castle wall,

And they seemed joyous each and all;[33]

The eagle rode the rising blast,

Methought he never flew so fast

As then to me he seemed to fly;

And then new tears came in my eye,

And I felt troubled—and would fain

I had not left my recent chain;

And when I did descend again,

The darkness of my dim abode360

Fell on me as a heavy load;

It was as is a new-dug grave,

Closing o'er one we sought to save,—

And yet my glance, too much opprest,

Had almost need of such a rest.