Poems of Nature (Whittier)/The Lakeside
For other versions of this work, see The Lakeside.
THE LAKE-SIDE.
The shadows round the inland seaAre deepening into night;Slow up the slopes of OssipeeThey chase the lessening light.Tired of the long day's blinding heat,I rest my languid eye,Lake of the Hills! where, cool and sweet,Thy sunset waters lie!
Along the sky, in wavy lines,O'er isle and reach and bay,Green-belted with eternal pines,The mountains stretch away.Below, the maple masses sleepWhere shore with water blends,While midway on the tranquil deepThe evening light descends.
So seemed it when yon hill's red crown,Of old, the Indian trod,And, through the sunset air, looked downUpon the Smile of God.To him of light and shade the lawsNo forest sceptic taught; Their living and eternal CauseHis truer instinct sought.
He saw these mountains in the lightWhich now across them shines;This lake, in summer sunset bright,Walled round with sombering pines.God near him seemed; from earth and skiesHis loving voice he beard,As, face to face, in Paradise,Man stood before the Lord.
Thanks, O our Father! that, like him,Thy tender love I see,In radiant hill and woodland dim,And tinted sunset sea.For not in mockery dost thou fillOur earth with light and grace;Thou hid'st no dark and cruel willBehind thy smiling face!