Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LAKE OF THE CLOUDS, MT. WASHINGTON, by HENRY HENDERSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LAKE OF THE CLOUDS, MT. WASHINGTON, by                    
First Line: Queen of the clouds! Afar from crowds
Last Line: How near in all my dreams.
Subject(s): Washington, Mount, New Hampshire


QUEEN of the clouds! afar from crowds
Thou reignest all alone,
In solitude which few intrude
To bow at thy high throne.

On either hand the mountains grand
Their giant shoulders lift
To bear thee up like God's sweet cup,
Brimmed with his precious gift!

Shrined mid the haunts of Alpine plants
That wreathe thy rocky rim,
Like clustered vines the graver twines
About the beaker's brim,

With what delight I caught the sight
Of thee I came to seek,
At peace and rest beneath the crest
Of Monroe's splintered peak;

Where naught is heard of beast or bird
Save the lone eagle's cry,
Whose lordly flight eludes the sight,
Lost in the deepening sky;

And where no sound disturbs the round
Of thy unruffled sleep,
But bolts that flash and roar and crash
And leap from steep to steep.

O, what an hour to feel His power
Who said, and it was done;
And huge and vast these hills stood fast,
Eternal as the sun!

By thy low brink I knelt to drink
Thy waters clear and cold,
As the last ray that shuts the day
Flushed thy fair face with gold.

Below in light the valley bright
In softened beauty shone,
While o'er me rose in grand repose
The dome of Washington.

The soft green moss I stept across
With wary feet and slow,
Crept in and out and all about
The shattered rocks below;

And wee bright flowers through sun and showers
Peered out with sparkling eyes,
As in the wild some unkempt child
Looks up in shy surprise.

O lovely lake, for thy sweet sake
The powers of earth and air,
That desolate all else, create
For thee a garden fair,

That mid the breath of gloom and death
Seems let down from above
To give us cheer where all is drear,
Like God's abounding love.

Mid city heats I tread the streets
And think of thee afar,
As of one gone whose love beams on
Like light from some lost star.

O mighty mount, O crystal fount,
O hills and lakes and streams,
How dear thou art to all my heart,
How near in all my dreams.





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