Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!

In domibus videt clārās
Focōrum lūcēs calidās;
Relucet glaciēs ācris,
Et rumpit gemitūs labrīs,
Excelsior!

“Try not the Pass!” the old man said;
“Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!”
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!

Dīcit senex, “Nē trānseās!
Suprā nigrēscit tempestās;
Lātus et altus est torrēns.”
Clāra vēnit vōx respondēns,
Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,