O Beata Solitudo; O Sola Beatitudo. (Inscription In The Grounds Of Burg Birseck, Near Basel.) Sweet Solitude Where Dost Thou Linger? When And Where Shall I Look In Thy Face? Feel The Soft Magic Touch Of Thy Finger, The Glow Of Thy Silent Embrace? Stern Civilization Has Banished Thy Charms To A Region Unknown; The Spell Of Thy Beauty Has Vanished - Sweet Solitude, Where Hast Thou Flown? I Have Sought Thee On Pampas And Prairie, By Blue Lake And Bluer Crevasse, On Shores That Are Arid And Airy, Lone Peak, And Precipitous Pass. I Have Sought Thee, Sweet Solitude, Ever Regardless Of Peril And Pain; But In Spite Of My Utmost Endeavour I Have Sought Thee, Fair Charmer, In Vain. To The Alps, To The Alps In September, Unconducted By Cook, Did I Rush; Full Well Even Now I Remember How My Heart With Emotion Did Gush. Here At Least In These Lonely Recesses With Thee I Shall Cast In My Lot; Shall Feel Thy Endearing Caresses, Forgetting All Else And Forgot. But I Met A Young Couple "Proposing" On The Top Of The Sunny Languard; I Surprised An Old Gentleman Dozing, "Times" In Hand, On The Heights Of Fort Bard. In The Fir Woods Of Sweet Pontresina Picnic Papers Polluted The Walks; On The Top Of The Frosty Bernina I Found A Young Mountain Of - Corks. I Trod, By The Falls Of The Handeck, On The End Of A Penny Cigar; As I Roamed In The Woods Above Landeck A Hair-Pin My Pleasure Did Mar: To The Riffel In Vain I Retreated, Mr. Gaze And The Gazers Were There; On The Top Of The Matterhorn Seated I Picked Up A Lady'S Back Hair! From The Belle Vue In Thun I Was Hunted By "'Arry" Who Wished To Play Pool; On The Col Du Bonhomme I Confronted The Whole Of A Young Ladies' School. At Giacomo'S Inn In Chiesa I Was Asked To Take Shares In A Mine; With An Agent For "Mappin'S New Razor" I Sat Down At Baveno To Dine. On The Waves Of Lake Leman Were Floating Old Lemons (Imagine My Feelings!), The Fish In Lucerne Were All Gloating On Cast-Away Salads And Peelings; And Egg-Shells And Old Bones Of Chicken On The Shore Of St. Moritz Did Lie: My Spirit Within Me Did Sicken - Sweet Solitude, Where Shall I Fly? Disconsolate, Gloomy, And Undone I Take In The "Dilly" My Place; By Zurich And Basel To London I Rush, As If Running A Race. My Quest And My Troubles Are Over; As I Drive Through The Desolate Street To My Club In Pall Mall, I Discover Sweet Solitude'S Summer Retreat.