Frank Oliver Call’s “Lucerne” describes a moment in a busy Swiss resort town where everything at street level feels loud, greedy, and exhausting. The speaker notices staring hotel windows, flaunting wealth, cringing poverty, drunken pleasure-seekers, weary tourists ticking off Switzerland on a budget, shrieking steamers, and blaring bands. All of it seems poor, rich, and ugly at once. Then he lifts his gaze to the mountains, especially Mount Pilatus, lit by sunset in orange and crimson. Against that natural beauty, the human noise below feels small. The speaker’s mood shifts from disgust and weariness to awe and quiet relief. The poem creates a contrast between tourist frenzy and the permanent, sacred calm of the landscape, ending with the soul finding peace in something far older and more beautiful than the crowd.
Lucerne — Summary
From staring eyes Of hotel windows, From flaunting rich And cringing poor, From men and women Drunken with wine, passion and money, From tired Cook's tourists Doing Switzerland on sixteen pounds, From shrieking steamers Tearing the shadow of Mount Pilatus into shreds, From bands beating out brazen music Under the twisted plane-trees, From all that is poor and rich and ugly, I lift my eyes unto the eternal hills Which are outlined upon orange and crimson By a Supreme Master with a brush of sunlight, And there my soul finds peace.