Page:Selections from the American poets (IA selectamerpoet00bryarich).pdf/115

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Rufus Dawes.
111
Oh! may thy life like hers endure, Unsullied to its spotless close;And bend to earth as calm and pure As ever bowed the summer rose.

SUNRISE FROM MOUNT WASHINGTON.

The laughing hours have chased away the night,Plucking the stars out from her diadem:And now the blue-eyed Mom, with modest grace,Looks through her half-drawn curtains in the cast,Blushing in smiles and glad as infancy.And see, the foolish Moon, but now so vainOf borrowed beauty, how she yields her charms,And, pale with envy, steals herself away!The clouds have put their gorgeous livery on,Attendant on the day: the mountain topsHave lit their beacons, and the vales belowSend up a welcoming: no song of birds,Warbling to charm the air with melody,Floats on the frosty breeze; yet Nature hathThe very soul of music in her looks!The sunshine and the shade of poetry.
 I stand upon thy lofty pinnacle,Temple of Nature! and look down with aweOn the wide world beneath me, dimly seen;Around me crowd the giant sons of earth,Fixed on their old foundations, unsubdued;Firm as when first rebellion bade them riseUnrifted to the Thunderer: now they seemA family of mountains, clustering roundTheir hoary patriarch, emulously watchingTo meet the partial glances of the day.Far in the glowing east the flickering light,Mellow'd by distance, with the blue sky blending,Questions the eye with ever-varying forms.
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