Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/371

 A VISION OF THE WESTER iV WORLD 36 1

The spirit read my inmost thought,

And on the waters rested still. These words the whispering breezes brought :

" Thou hast the wish, but lackest will.

��" Born in the mountain's lap was I, Far in the cold and gloomy north,

Where drifted snows unmelting lie,

And restless winds go howling forth, —

" Where sun-gilt cliffs, gray, steep, and tall, Stand frowning o'er the torrent's foam,

Where, by the deafening waterfall. The bravest hunter fears to roam.

" From the dark cavern's deep recess

I issued first a babbling rill, Well pleased my onward course to press,

And gayly plunge o'er height and hill.

" Sometimes compressed in narrow glen. My angry waves would boil and hiss,

But soon I'd break my bounds, and then Leap laughing down the deep abyss.

" Sometimes I flowed through forests green, Where earth her loneliest aspect wears,

And nought disturbs the silent scene Save haggard wolves and grizzly bears.

" Sometimes, walled up in basin wide, My restless steps ran round and round.

Then would I burst the mountain's side, And headlong dash to depths profound.

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