Ah! Little Lake

Ah! little lake, though fair thou art,             A sapphire flashing to the sky,             Thy charm is only for the eye,         Thy beauty cannot hold my heart.         Green hill-sides bending to thy shore             Gleam clear in the autumnal light,             While far above, Monadnock's height         Keeps rugged guard thy waters o'er.         And yet these very beauties cloy;             As in a prison I am bound,             Though fair the walls that gird me round,         My housemate is no longer joy.         Thy loveliness breeds discontent,             For far my foolish heart would be,             It longs for the unquiet sea,         And with desire is sorely rent.         Hateful the walls that me debar             From happier things that haunt me so,             Even my weary thoughts are slow         To reach the great, great world afar.         I half believe there is no world             Those cruel hill-tops there beyond.             Oh - for the wizard Merlin's wand!         That all these mountain curves uncurled.         I might behold the shore I love,             Might hear the roaring of the tide,             Might see the ocean, reaching wide         And boundless as the sky above.         One hour beside that sea-kissed beach             Quick throbbing to its love's caress,             Would yield to me more happiness         Than a whole life-time here could teach.