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| “FATHER of lakes!” thy waters bend | |
| Beyond the eagle’s utmost view, | |
| When, throned in heaven, he sees thee send | |
| Back to the sky its world of blue. | |
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| Boundless and deep, the forests weave | 5 |
| Their twilight shade thy borders o’er, | |
| And threatening cliffs, like giants, heave | |
| Their rugged forms along thy shore. | |
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| Pale silence, mid thy hollow caves, | |
| With listening ear, in sadness broods; | 10 |
| Or startled echo, o’er thy waves, | |
| Sends the hoarse wolf-notes of thy woods. | |
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| Nor can the light canoes, that glide | |
| Across thy breast like things of air, | |
| Chase from thy lone and level tide | 15 |
| The spell of stillness deepening there. | |
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| Yet round this waste of wood and wave, | |
| Unheard, unseen, a spirit lives, | |
| That, breathing o’er each rock and cave, | |
| To all a wild, strange aspect gives. | 20 |
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| The thunder-riven oak, that flings | |
| Its grisly arms athwart the sky, | |
| A sudden, startling image brings | |
| To the lone traveller’s kindled eye. | |
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| The gnarled and braided boughs, that show | 25 |
| Their dim forms in the forest shade, | |
| Like wrestling serpents seem, and throw | |
| Fantastic horrors through the glade. | |
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| The very echoes round this shore | |
| Have caught a strange and gibbering tone; | 30 |
| For they have told the war-whoop o’er, | |
| Till the wild chorus is their own. | |
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| Wave of the wilderness, adieu! | |
| Adieu, ye rocks, ye wilds, ye woods! | |
| Roll on, thou element of blue, | 35 |
| And fill these awful solitudes! | |
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| Thou hast no tale to tell of man; | |
| God is thy theme. Ye sounding caves, | |
| Whisper of him whose mighty plan | |
| Deems as a bubble all your waves! | 40 |
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