In spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide world a spot
The which I could not love the less —
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around.
But when the Night had thrown her [pall](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pall)
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody —
Then — ah then I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.
Yet that terror was not fright,
But a tremulous delight —
A feeling not the jewelled mine
Could teach or bribe me to define —
Nor Love — although the Love were [thine](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thine).
Death was in that poisonous wave,
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who [thence](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thence) could solace bring
To his lone imagining —
Whose solitary soul could make
An [Eden](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Eden) of that dim lake.