A Celebration of Women Writers

"Lake Louise." by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay (1875-1928)
From: Fires of Driftwood. by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Limited, 1922, p. 40.

Editor: Mary Mark Ockerbloom

[Page 40] 

Lake Louise

I THINK that when the Master Jeweler tells
  His beads of beauty over, seeking there
  One gem to name as most supremely fair,
To you He turns, O lake of hidden wells!

So very lovely are you, Lake Louise,
  The stars which crown your lifted peaks at even
  Mistake you for a little sea in heaven
And nightly launch their shining argosies.

From shore to dim-lit shore a ripple slips,
  The happy sigh of faintly stirring night
  Where safe she sleeps upon this virgin height
Captive of dream and smiling with white lips.

Surely a spell, creation-old, was made
  For you, O lake of silences, that all
  Earth's fretting voices here should muted fall,
As if a finger on their lips were laid!

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Editor: Mary Mark Ockerbloom