The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

Lake Leman! in the hush of this deep hour
The poetry of waters is thy power;
And o'er my spirit steals that lulling calm
Which bathes the earth in some celestial balm.

Here from my window, with a spell-bound gaze,
I view yon shore beneath a silver-haze
Unshroud its glories; till, with dim uprise
The Alpine summits cleave the sun-lit skies.

Far to the east, those mountain-kings enthrone
Their rocky grandeurs o'er the ice-born Rhone,
Whose foreheads, pure as angel-brows, present
Their dazzling whiteness to the Firmament.

And who can mark thine awful Mountains gleam,
When faintly-hued with morn's seraphic beam;
Or, crimson'd o'er with magical array
Caught from the rosy death of ling'ring day,

Nor feel them, like an infinite Control,—
Embodied hymns, where Silence to the soul
Speaks more of God, than thunder, wave, or wind,
With dark-wing'd Terrors, from the storm combined?

Thus may true Poets from their presence gain
Fresh purities, which o'er the conscience reign;
Till thoughts grow vaster than the lyre can own,
And Man seems lifted to his Maker's throne.

But, Leman! once again to thee I turn,
And from thine everlasting beauty learn
Profounder Wisdom than a sage can teach,
Whose words are bounded by the sense's reach.

While soft, yet stern, though mild, majestic too,
Serenely-bright, and exquisitely-blue,—
Almighty Taste around thy scene hath cast
What makes thy loveliness the unsurpass'd!

For ever varied!—rock, and terrace, field,
Vineyards and turrets, tower and village yield
A concentrated Spell, which thus imparts
A more than landscape to melodious hearts.

And seldom, since the bend of beauteous skies
Enrich'd thy waters with reflected dies,
Hast thou, fair Leman! more ideal bliss
For mind created, than on morns like this.

The grace, the gentleness, and glow of heaven
Now to thy charms are so intensely given,
That on thy waveless sea of fairy sound
The Heart seems floating, as we gaze around.

And hark! the drip of yon descending oar
In wafted grace as glides the boat ashore,
With what a cadence it enchants the ear,
And drops in radiance, like a dazzling tear,

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Down on the waters!—where a breezy strife
Makes Leman palpitate with rippling life,
And liquid glances, as the broken sun
Laughs on the dimpled stream it lights upon.

Earth, air, and sky, and range of rocky pass,
Glaciers, and crags, and sternly-wild morass,
The bird, and foliage, field and distant towers,
Vine-mantled hills, and fancy-haunted bowers,

Blent with the mellow chimes of matin-bell
Heaved o'er the Lake with deep and dying swell,—
Oh! how can words such pictured Whole combine,
Or Leman roll through this imperfect line?

E'en like a Consciousness of sound and scene
Nature doth now her master-spells convene;
And lovingly this hour for man array
As though She treasured what his eyes survey;

While leafy murmurs from yon flutt'ring trees
Quiver abroad like new-born ecstasies,
And gleams come dancing down the golden air,
As though bright angels hover'd everywhere.

Yet, in mine incapacity of speech
This lulling paradise of Lakes to reach,
Still can I feel, that even thus the soul
Bows in its unbreathed thought to that Control

Which God intended, Who to scene imparts
Predestined magic, framed for deathless hearts,
Whose pulse with His eternity shall glow—
When Earth has vanish'd like an air-born show.

A purifying calm of central power
Attunes high feeling to this chasten'd hour;
And from the World's more artificial scene,
Oft shall it woo me to this Lake, I ween.

Meanings divine endow a Morn like this
With magic that outsoars an earth-made bliss;
The very soil grows sanctified and fair,
And deepens poetry to silent prayer.

Beauty is hallow'd, when on mind it leaves
An impress grander than mere Sense conceives;
Till all without, within, below, above,
Becomes transfigured to almighty Love.

And thus, that God from Whom vast nature flows
Inspires religion through the heart's repose;
And so connects it with creation's plan
That heaven seems throbbing through the earth on Man!