The Four Lakes Of Madison

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Four limpid lakes,--four Naiades
    Or sylvan deities are these,
        In flowing robes of azure dressed;
    Four lovely handmaids, that uphold
    Their shining mirrors, rimmed with gold,
        To the fair city in the West.

    By day the coursers of the sun
    Drink of these waters as they run
        Their swift diurnal round on high;
    By night the constellations glow
    Far down the hollow deeps below,
        And glimmer in another sky.

    Fair lakes, serene and full of light,
    Fair town, arrayed in robes of white,
        How visionary ye appear!
    All like a floating landscape seems
    In cloud-land or the land of dreams,
        Bathed in a golden atmosphere!