THE shadows round the inland sea Are deepening into night; Slow up the slopes of Ossipee They 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 sleep Where shore with water blends, While midway on the tranquil deep The evening light descends. So seemed it when you hill's red crown, Of old, the Indian trod, And, through the sunset air, looked down Upon the Smile of God. To him of light and shade the laws No forest skeptic taught; Their living and eternal Cause His truer instinct sought. He saw these mountains in the light Which now across them shines; This lake, in summer sunset bright, Walled round with sombering pines. God near him seemed; from earth and skies His loving voice he heard, 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 fill Our earth with light and grace; Thou hid'st no dark and cruel will Behind Thy smiling face! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE KNIFE-GRINDER by GEORGE CANNING A HYMN [TO THE NAME AND] IN HONOR OF SAINT TERESA by RICHARD CRASHAW PICTURES OF MOTHER by STELLA PFEIFFER BAISCH IN A VISION OF THE NIGHT by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 17 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |