With air so mild, and scenery wild,
The Fates persuaded, led and smiled.
O! craggy peak! O! Earthquakes freak,
Had I but words of you to speak.
Our course we take, through broom and brake,
To view the fern-embroidered lake.
Those lakes, so sweet, at mountain’s feet,
Where weary strangers, strangers meet.
The waters blue, with swift canoe,
We skim, for glimpses weird and new.
We lift the eye to mountain high,
To where the snow-peaks kiss the sky.
O’er gorges deep, where shadows creep,
dark clouds cluster, pause and weep.
In dreamy mood, we pause and brood,
’Midst awe-inspiring solitude.
We list—a roar, that cometh o’er,
From danger scenes we would explore.
For ah! the spell! the geyser’s well,
That hurls the sulphurous fumes from hell;