The Upper Saranac

Wild forest lake, thy waters spread A mirror for the welkin’s bound! Thy breezes glide with rippling tread; Thy linking brooks send tinkling sound.

Down to thy wave the fish-hawk swoops; The wood-duck floats within thy bays; Its trunks the water-maple groups Along thy banks of leafy maze.

The gull darts by, a flash of snow; Deep from thy brink green pictures gleam; The loon shouts o’er, and shoots below; The soft haze folds thee in a dream.

The lily lifts its creamy cup In thy broad shallows, amber clear; And there the thatch shoots bristling up, And there steals down the drinking deer.

On thy bright breast each fairy isle Strews its rock-vase, with foliage brimmed; And from thee grandly, pile on pile, Soar the steep crags with thunders rimmed.

In thy smooth glades the camp-fire flames; The hunter’s light boat tracks thy wave; Thy ooze in caves the muskrat frames; The otter, in thee loves to lave.

Wild forest lake! oh, would my home, My happy home, were reared by thee! Thence would my full heart never roam,