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| QUEEN of the clouds! afar from crowds | |
| Thou reignest all alone, | |
| In solitude which few intrude | |
| To bow at thy high throne. | |
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| On either hand the mountains grand | 5 |
| Their giant shoulders lift | |
| To bear thee up like God’s sweet cup, | |
| Brimmed with his precious gift! | |
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| Shrined mid the haunts of Alpine plants | |
| That wreathe thy rocky rim, | 10 |
| Like clustered vines the graver twines | |
| About the beaker’s brim, | |
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| With what delight I caught the sight | |
| Of thee I came to seek, | |
| At peace and rest beneath the crest | 15 |
| Of Monroe’s splintered peak; | |
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| 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; | 20 |
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| 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. | |
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| O, what an hour to feel His power | 25 |
| Who said, and it was done; | |
| And huge and vast these hills stood fast, | |
| Eternal as the sun! | |
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| By thy low brink I knelt to drink | |
| Thy waters clear and cold, | 30 |
| As the last ray that shuts the day | |
| Flushed thy fair face with gold. | |
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| Below in light the valley bright | |
| In softened beauty shone, | |
| While o’er me rose in grand repose | 35 |
| The dome of Washington. | |
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| The soft green moss I stept across | |
| With wary feet and slow, | |
| Crept in and out and all about | |
| The shattered rocks below; | 40 |
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| 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. | |
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| O lovely lake, for thy sweet sake | 45 |
| The powers of earth and air, | |
| That desolate all else, create | |
| For thee a garden fair, | |
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| That mid the breath of gloom and death | |
| Seems let down from above | 50 |
| To give us cheer where all is drear, | |
| Like God’s abounding love. | |
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| Mid city heats I tread the streets | |
| And think of thee afar, | |
| As of one gone whose love beams on | 55 |
| Like light from some lost star. | |
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| 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. * * * * * | 60 |
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