THE twilight on Ausable
By rock and river fell;
With tints of rose-veined marble
It glimmered through the dell.
Shadows on tree and river
In stately grandeur hung;
There Nature sings forever
What poets have not sung.
The dark rocks, proudly lifted,
Uprear their rugged form
Like giants,— nobly gifted
To breast the torrent’ s storm.
Dim mystery forever
Here chants a song sublime,
While onward rolls the river
Unchangeable as time.
From soul to soul is spoken
What lips cannot impart;
And the silence is but broken
By the throbbing of the heart.
The evening sky in glory
Lights the massy, rifted wall,
And with many a wondrous story
Fancy paints the waterfall,
Of the savage freely roving
In a scene as wild as he;
Of the Indian maiden loving
With a spirit full of glee.
Yet though Indian maid and lover
Have forever passed away,
We may dream their visions over,
And may love as well as they!
On the borders of the river
We may whisper ere we part
Songs whose music clings forever
Round the memories of the heart.
We may catch an inspiration
From dark river, rock, and fall,
And a higher adoration
For the Spirit over all!