| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | III. The Lake in Calm | | By Professor John Wilson (1785–1854) |
| | | IS this the lake, the cradle of the storms, | |
| Where silence never tames the mountain-roar, | |
| Where poets fear their self-created forms, | |
| Or, sunk in trance severe, their God adore? | |
| Is this the lake, forever dark and loud | 5 |
| With wave and tempest, cataract and cloud? | |
| Wondrous, O Nature! is thy sovereign power, | |
| That gives to horror hours of peaceful mirth; | |
| For here might beauty build her summer-bower! | |
| Lo! where yon rainbow spans the smiling earth, | 10 |
| And, clothed in glory, through a silent shower | |
| The mighty sun comes forth, a godlike birth; | |
| While, ’neath his loving eye, the gentle Lake | |
| Lies like a sleeping child too blest to wake! | | | | |
|
|
