The waters leap, <br />The waters roar; <br />And on the shore <br />One sycamore <br />Stands, towering hoar. <br /> <br />The mountains heap <br />Gaunt pines and crags <br />That hoar-frost shags; <br />And, pierced with snags, <br />Like horns of stags, <br />The water lags, <br />The water drags, <br />Where trees, like hags, <br />Lean from the steep. <br /> <br />The mist begins <br />To swirl; then spins <br />'Mid outs and ins <br />Of heights; and thins <br />Where the torrent dins; <br />And lost in sweep <br />Of its whiteness deep <br />The valleys sleep. <br /> <br />Now morning strikes <br />On wild rampikes <br />Of forest spikes, <br />And, down dim dykes <br />Of dawn, like sheep, <br />Scatters the mists, <br />And amethysts <br />With light, that twists, <br />And rifts that run <br />Azure with sun, <br />Wild-whirled and spun, <br />The foggy dun <br />O' the heavens deep. <br /> <br />Look! how they keep <br />Majestic ward, <br />Gigantic guard! <br />And gaze, rock-browed, <br />Through mist and cloud! <br />Eternal, vast, <br />As ages past! <br />And seem to speak, <br />With peak on peak, <br />Of God! and see <br />Eternity!<br /><br />Madison Julius Cawein<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dawn-in-the-alleghanies/
