Kenoza Lake

As Adam did in Paradise,     To-day the primal right we claim     Fair mirror of the woods and skies,     We give to thee a name.     Lake of the pickerel! let no more     The echoes answer back, "Great Pond,"     But sweet Kenoza, from thy shore     And watching hills beyond,     Let Indian ghosts, if such there be     Who ply unseen their shadowy lines,     Call back the ancient name to thee,     As with the voice of pines.     The shores we trod as barefoot boys,     The nutted woods we wandered through,     To friendship, love, and social joys     We consecrate anew.     Here shall the tender song be sung,     And memory's dirges soft and low,     And wit shall sparkle on the tongue,     And mirth shall overflow,     Harmless as summer lightning plays     From a low, hidden cloud by night,     A light to set the hills ablaze,     But not a bolt to smite.     In sunny South and prairied West     Are exiled hearts remembering still,     As bees their hive, as birds their nest,     The homes of Haverhill.     They join us in our rites to-day;     And, listening, we may hear, erelong,     From inland lake and ocean bay,     The echoes of our song.     Kenoza! o'er no sweeter lake     Shall morning break or noon-cloud sail,     No fairer face than thine shall take     The sunset's golden veil.     Long be it ere the tide of trade     Shall break with harsh-resounding din     The quiet of thy banks of shade,     And hills that fold thee in.     Still let thy woodlands hide the hare,     The shy loon sound his trumpet-note,     Wing-weary from his fields of air,     The wild-goose on thee float.     Thy peace rebuke our feverish stir,     Thy beauty our deforming strife;     Thy woods and waters minister     The healing of their life.     And sinless Mirth, from care released,     Behold, unawed, thy mirrored sky,     Smiling as smiled on Cana's feast     The Master's loving eye.     And when the summer day grows dim,     And light mists walk thy mimic sea,     Revive in us the thought of Him     Who walked on Galilee