Cloud-topped and splendid, dominating all
The little lesser hills which compass thee,
Thou standest, bright with April's buoyancy,
Yet holding Winter in some shaded wall
Of stern, steep rock; and startled by the call
Of Spring, thy trees flush with expectancy
And cast a cloud of crimson, silently,
Above thy snowy crevices where fall
Pale shrivelled oak leaves, while the snow beneath
Melts at their phantom touch. Another year
Is quick with import. Such each year has been.
Unmoved thou watchest all, and all bequeath
Some jewel to thy diadem of power,
Thou pledge of greater majesty unseen.

About this poem
"Monadnock in Early Spring" was published in Amy Lowell's book "A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass" (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912).

About Amy Lowell
Amy Lowell was born on Feb. 9, 1874, in Brookline, Mass. Her books include "Sword Blades and Poppy Seed" (1914) and "What's O' Clock" (1925), which received the Pulitzer Prize. Lowell died on May 12, 1925, in Massachusetts.

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This poem is in the public domain. Distributed by King Features Syndicate