ON THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT LAFAYETTE, N. H.
I.
Thou rear’st thy graceful head, thy serrate crest,
O noble mountain, o’er the busy vale,
Franconia’s seething, motley-crowded dale:
Below, we inly chafe; on thee, we rest.
The scars that seam thy fir-crowned, rocky breast,
The rifts that rend thy floating, cloud-spun veil,
Tell but of nature’s laws the ordered tale—
Each change with seal of sovereign might impressed.