Poetry Archives

On the margin of a lakelet,
  In a rugged mountain clime,
Where precipice and pinnacle
  Of countenance sublime,
Cast their weird, austere reflections
  In the water’s glistening sheen,
I strolled in contemplative mood,
  Both pensive and serene.

As in a crystal mirror,
  In that lakelet’s placid face,
I saw the mountains upside down,
  With all their pristine grace;
I saw each cliff and point of rocks,
  I saw the stately pine,
Inverted in fantastic form
  Below the water line.

I paused in admiration;
  And with calm complacency
I marveled at this photograph
  From nature’s gallery;
And as my eyes surveyed the scene
  With solemn grandeur fraught,
This simile flashed through my mind
  As instantly as thought:

As the stern, majestic mountains,
  Without error or mistake,
Were reflected in the bosom
  Of that cool, pellucid lake,
So our every thought and action,
  Be it deed of hate or love,
May be photographed in record
  In that gallery above.