| |
| WILD forest lake, thy waters spread | |
| A mirror for the welkin’s bound! | |
| Thy breezes glide with rippling tread; | |
| Thy linking brooks send tinkling sound. | |
| |
| Down to thy wave the fish-hawk swoops; | 5 |
| The wood-duck floats within thy bays; | |
| Its trunks the water-maple groups | |
| Along thy banks of leafy maze. | |
| |
| The gull darts by, a flash of snow; | |
| Deep from thy brink green pictures gleam; | 10 |
| The loon shouts o’er, and shoots below; | |
| The soft haze folds thee in a dream. | |
| |
| The lily lifts its creamy cup | |
| In thy broad shallows, amber clear; | |
| And there the thatch shoots bristling up, | 15 |
| And there steals down the drinking deer. | |
| |
| On thy bright breast each fairy isle | |
| Strews its rock-vase, with foliage brimmed; | |
| And from thee grandly, pile on pile, | |
| Soar the steep crags with thunders rimmed. | 20 |
| |
| In thy smooth glades the camp-fire flames; | |
| The hunter’s light boat tracks thy wave; | |
| Thy ooze in caves the muskrat frames; | |
| The otter in thee loves to lave. | |
| |
| Wild forest lake! oh, would my home, | 25 |
| My happy home, were reared by thee! | |
| Thence would my full heart never roam, | |
| From care and trouble ever free. | |
| |
