WHERE nature wears her wildest dress,
In colors all her own,
Where howling winds rage merciless,
I spread my stormy throne:
And loud and angry, wild and rude,
I reign in dreary solitude.
When summer skies are clear to view,
And sunbeams dance around,
I wear a robe of purest blue,
With silvery fringes bound;
And blush and sparkle, smile and play,
Like beauty on a festal day.
Sweet evening sets her earliest star
Upon my peaceful breast,
And I restore the gem afar,
To deck Aurora's vest;
The host of heaven in bright array,
To me, by turns, their homage pay.
The silent cave, the sparkling grot,
In unknown realms, I ween,
Where foot of mortal enters not,
Nor vulture's eye hath seen–
'T is there I love to steal along,
And pour my everlasting song.
And there with pearl and amber crowned,
I hold my gentler court,
While freshest breezes play around,
And merry mermaids sport;
And thousand graceful Naiads stand,
With streaming urns in either hand.
