Anne Charlotte Lynch (1815–1891)

THE MOUNTAIN lake, o’ershadowed by the hills,

May still gaze heavenward on the evening star,

Whose distant light its dark recesses fills,

Though boundless distance must divide them far.

Still may the lake the star’s bright image wear;

Still may the star, from its blue ether dome,

Shower down its silver beams across the gloom,

And light the wave that wanders darkly there.

O my life’s star! thus do I turn to thee,

Amid the shadows that above me roll,

Thus from thy distant sphere thou shin’st on me,

Thus does thine image float upon my soul,

Through the wide space that must our lives dissever

Far as the lake and star, ah me! forever!