Poems (Angier)/Bay View

by Annie Lanman Angier

BAY VIEW.

A vision of beauty! it comes not in dream,
To vanish like mist, or the shadow from stream;
For on memory's canvas is painted to-day,
In colors bright, fadeless, yon beautiful bay.

It sleeps like a babe on a fond mother's breast,
Nor ripple, nor murmur, so tranquil its rest;
It mirrors the landscape like calm Galilee,
When a voice stilled the tempest with, "Peace, troubled sea."

The great Spirit's blessing in token of love,
Is brooding o'er all like some white winged dove;
Skies cloudless, serene, o'erarching the scene,
Are blending their hues, azure, amber, and green.

Soft valley in verdure, gray mountain in pride,
Rejoicing clasp hands, proud bridegroom, fair bride;
White sail in the distance, and light-dipping oar,
Steal silently by as they glide to the shore.

Tall trees, pointing upward, breathe softly of heaven,
While from scent-laden breezes this message is given:
Come, worship in Nature's grand temple to-day,
On her moss-covered altars thy thank-offering lay.

Oh! fair Winnisquam, in thy waves' gentle flow,
I seem to hear voices I heard long ago;
They whisper of crystal sea, laving that shore,
"Where the loved from the loving ones part nevermore.