28 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



selfsame pastures, and then good-bye to the 

 flowers hereabouts, except in out-of-reach nooks 

 and corners. What the cows do not eat off the 

 goats will nibble down, and where the animals are 

 not allowed to wander the peasant comes with his 

 scythe and makes his hay. Then, for the flowers, 

 one must go away, up higher — up on the last 

 steep, grassy slopes, and up around the glaciers. 

 There, to be sure, will one find fresh wonders, 

 but nothing to compare in abundance of pure colour 

 with the wonders of the spring. 



And — oh, the pity of it ! — at this late season it is, 

 when the cattle and the scythe have gained disastrous 

 footing, that the majority of visitors arrive. And 

 when, after their holiday, they return home, they 

 do so thinking they have tasted of the chiefest 

 glories of the Alps. Oh, Ignorance ! sometimes, 

 maybe, thy name spells bliss, but only, mark ye, 

 sometimes / 



