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| THE TWILIGHT on Ausable | |
| By rock and river fell, | |
| With tints of rose-veined marble | |
| It glimmered through the dell. | |
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| Shadows on tree and river | 5 |
| In stately grandeur hung; | |
| There Nature sings forever | |
| What poets have not sung. | |
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| The dark rocks, proudly lifted, | |
| Uprear their rugged form, | 10 |
| Like giants—nobly gifted | |
| To breast the torrent’s storm. | |
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| Dim mystery forever | |
| Here chants a song sublime, | |
| While onward rolls the river, | 15 |
| Unchangeable as time. | |
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| From soul to soul is spoken | |
| What lips cannot impart; | |
| And the silence is but broken | |
| By the throbbing of the heart. | 20 |
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| The evening sky in glory | |
| Lights the massy, rifted wall, | |
| And, with many a wondrous story, | |
| Fancy paints the waterfall: | |
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| Of the savage freely roving | 25 |
| In a scene as wild as he; | |
| Of the Indian maiden loving | |
| With a spirit full of glee. * * * * * | |
| Yet—though Indian maid and lover | |
| Have forever passed away— | 30 |
| We may dream their visions over, | |
| And may love as well as they! | |
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| On the borders of the river, | |
| We may whisper ere we part, | |
| Songs—whose music clings forever | 35 |
| Round the memories of the heart. | |
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| We may catch an inspiration | |
| From dark river, rock, and fall, | |
| And a higher adoration | |
| For the Spirit over all! | 40 |
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