The Poetry Corner

Dawn In The Alleghanies

By Madison Julius Cawein

The waters leap, The waters roar; And on the shore One sycamore Stands, towering hoar. The mountains heap Gaunt pines and crags That hoar-frost shags; And, pierced with snags, Like horns of stags, The water lags, The water drags, Where trees, like hags, Lean from the steep. The mist begins To swirl; then spins 'Mid outs and ins Of heights; and thins Where the torrent dins; And lost in sweep Of its whiteness deep The valleys sleep. Now morning strikes On wild rampikes Of forest spikes, And, down dim dykes Of dawn, like sheep, Scatters the mists, And amethysts With light, that twists, And rifts that run Azure with sun, Wild-whirled and spun, The foggy dun O' the heavens deep. Look! how they keep Majestic ward, Gigantic guard! And gaze, rock-browed, Through mist and cloud! Eternal, vast, As ages past! And seem to speak, With peak on peak, Of God! and see Eternity!