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Who would not for this sight the bliss surrender
Of all the beauties of yon sunny sphere,
And break the sweetest ties, however tender,
To be the witness of the silent splendor
That greets us here!
Of all the beauties of yon sunny sphere,
And break the sweetest ties, however tender,
To be the witness of the silent splendor
That greets us here!
Ye glittering caves, ye high o'erhanging arches,
A pilgrim-band we glide amid your gloom,
With breathless lips and high uplifted torches,
All fancifully decked in cave-costume;
Far from the day's glad beams, and songs, and flowers,
We've come with spell-touched hearts, ye countless caves,
To glide enchanted, for a few brief hours,
Thro' the calm beauty of your awful bowers
And o'er your waves!
A pilgrim-band we glide amid your gloom,
With breathless lips and high uplifted torches,
All fancifully decked in cave-costume;
Far from the day's glad beams, and songs, and flowers,
We've come with spell-touched hearts, ye countless caves,
To glide enchanted, for a few brief hours,
Thro' the calm beauty of your awful bowers
And o'er your waves!
Beautiful cave! that all my soul entrances,
Known as the Wonder of the West so long,
Oh 'twere a fate beyond my wildest fancies,
Could I but shrine you now, as such in song!
But 'tis in vain—the untaught child of Nature,
I cannot vent the thoughts that through me flow,
Yet none the less is graved thine every feature
Upon the wild imaginative creature
That hails you now!
Known as the Wonder of the West so long,
Oh 'twere a fate beyond my wildest fancies,
Could I but shrine you now, as such in song!
But 'tis in vain—the untaught child of Nature,
I cannot vent the thoughts that through me flow,
Yet none the less is graved thine every feature
Upon the wild imaginative creature
That hails you now!
Palace of Nature! with a poet's fancies
I've ofttimes pictured thee in dreams of bliss,
And glorious scenes were given to my glances,
But never gazed I on a scene like this!
I've ofttimes pictured thee in dreams of bliss,
And glorious scenes were given to my glances,
But never gazed I on a scene like this!
