FROM MOUNT LAFAYETTE, WHITE MOUNTAINS.

Silence and light and scenes stupendous greet My wondering sense and sight! Here midway meet Those rocky splendors where th' embracing clouds Above, below, wrap them in misty shrouds. Our mules with cautious feet the sharp ascent Accomplish; and, the steep o'ertopped, all spent Our strength, we look wild nature in the face, Some features of the human soul to trace. A phantom drap'ry betwixt sky and earth, Of blending tints, spans in impulsive birth Th' entranced view! A heav'nly arch it forms— It seems suspended by some seraph's arms! Ethereal Rainbow! Daughter of the Shower! Thy beauty lends enchantment to the hour. The seraph arm grows weary—now is furled The gleam in dreamy vapor from the world! And now in purple shadows stand the hills: The night winds beat their stony sides, and trills From hidden rivulets, and stealthy creep Of some lone reptile down the grooved steep, Divert the eye and ear—th' restricted breath Of each rapt soul is heard—and still as death Stand the dumb mules. Homeward we turn our eyes, And leave the region of the naked skies.