The lake lay in a slumber,
The shadows for its screen,
While silence waved her sceptre
Above the sleeping scene.
The spirit of the darkness
Moved, ghost-like, everywhere;
Wherever starlight glimmered,
Its shadow, sure, fell there.
The lone place grew more lonely,
And all along our way
The mysteries of the night-time
Held undisputed sway.
Thro' silence and thro' darkness
We glided down the tide
That wound around the mountains
That rose on either side.
No eyes would close in slumber
Within our little bark;
What charmed us so in daylight
So awed us in the dark.
Upon the deck we lingered,
A whisper scarce was heard;
When hearts are stirred profoundest,
Lips are without a word.
"Let's say the Chaplet," softly
A voice beside me spake.
"Christ walked once in the darkness
Across an Eastern lake,
"And to-night we know the secret
That will charm Him to our side:
If we call upon His Mother,
He will meet us on the tide."
So we said the beads together,
Up and down the little bark;
And I believe that Jesus met us,
With His Mother, in the dark.
And our prayers were scarcely ended
When, on mountain-top afar,
We beheld the morning meeting
With the night's last fading star.