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(Excerpt)
IN the midst of the mountains all bosky and wooded, | |
| Its bosom thick gemmed with the loveliest isles, | |
| Its borders with vistas of Paradise studded,— | |
| Looking up to the heaven sweet Horicon smiles. | |
| Thick set are its haunts with old legend and story, | 5 |
| That, woven by genius, still cluster and blend; | |
| But its beauty will cling, like a halo of glory, | |
| When legend and record with ages shall end. * * * * * | |
| Far down in the waters the pebbles are gleaming,— | |
| Far down in the clear waves that nothing can hide; | 10 |
| So, beauty of youth, comes the name you are dreaming,— | |
| Too pure for concealment, too gentle for pride; | |
| So smiles on your faces the sunshine of heaven,— | |
| The blessing distilled in the gardens of air,— | |
| A smile of contentment from Paradise given | 15 |
| That woman and lake have been fashioned so fair. | |
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| Pure Horicon! glassing the brows of the mountains, | |
| As handmaid might bend to a conqueror’s will!— | |
| Although nurtured and swelled by the commonest fountains, | |
| Yet pure, and transparent, and beautiful still! | 20 |
| No wonder the men of the cross and the missal | |
| Once named it “The Lake of the Sacrament” pure; | |
| Or that far leagues away, from some holiest vessel, | |
| Its drops on the forehead could comfort and cure. | |
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| On the fair silver lake drives the Indian no longer, | 25 |
| With the sweep of his paddle, the birchen canoe; | |
| And the fortresses fall that made weakness the stronger, | |
| And saved the white maid when the war-whistle blew. | |
| But ’t is well that the old and the savage are fated, | |
| And that danger rolls back from the Edens of earth. | 30 |
| Our boats glide as well, with all loveliness freighted, | |
| And the war-whoop we lose in the sallies of mirth. | |
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| Pure Horicon! lake of the cloud and the shadow! | |
| Soft shimmer your moonlight and dimple your rain! | |
| And the hearts far away—if by sea side or meadow— | 35 |
| Still think of your blue with a lingering pain! | |
| Among the far islands that glitter in heaven,— | |
| On the dim, undiscovered, and beautiful shore,— | |
| Some glimpse of a lovelier sea may be given | |
| To the eyes of the perfect,—but never before! | 40 |
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