Petoskey at Evening

The purpling azure deepens,

Toward the closing day;

Tinting the woods and hillsides,

That circling frame the Bay.

And a little over yonder

Behind a misty veil,

The yachts are rounding Harbor point,

And boats are furling sail.

Away in a mazy distance,

Where the horizon defines,

Is a ball of fire suspended,

In rosy flushing lines.

And laying across the waters–

A path of golden bars,

Leading – Oh, where! we know not;

But upward towards the stars.

O, is it any wonder,

It was held in sacred view

O’er the mystic hills of Palestine,

When the world was new?

Here at my feet the waves

Gently lap the silver sand,

Where corals, jasper, agates,

Lie buried on the strand.

Boats shoot into the distance–

With a gentle splash of oars;

Or freighted with happy voices

Are returning to the shores.

And hark! There comes a chorus,

In ruby lips and gay

Young merry pleasure seekers,

On yachts out on the Bay.

And from the Hotel piazzas–

A laughter loving throng,

Borne on softest zephyrs,

Whispers of love and song.

A lofty inspiration,

Born of nature’s kindliest mood;

She offers to wasted beauty,

In river, tree, and wood-

A sunny slope on the hillside,

The lull of the waterfall;

The purest air empyrean.

And God and sky o’er all.

In a view across the water–

The evening nearness brings

The woodland We-que-ton-sing,

And village-Harbor Springs.

And lovely Bayview nestling

On terraced crescent lay,

With a group of cheerful talkers

On a long grand holiday.

Here strangers come to worship,

The shepherd to his fold–

In groves and woods of nature,

As they did in times of old.

And white walled village churches

Point there spires towards the skies;

Life rest in peaceful slumbers,

Under walls of paradise.

And now the shadows lengthen,

The day is going to rest,

The white winged yachts are coming in

The sun set in the west.

My musing spell is broken,

Has gone out with the day;

But every giften token,

Thus crowns Petoskey bay.

                       MRS MARY A. STRANGER