Delaware Water Gap 
 Lyrics 
 
 (Mt. Minsi Edition) 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES K. MESCHTER 
 
 Bethlehem, Pa. 
 
 QUINLIN PRINTING COMPAN"! 
 SOUTH BETHLEHEM. PA. 
 
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 Copyright, 19:3 
 
 by 
 
 CHARLES K. MESCHTER 
 
 Published March, 1913 
 
 ©C1.A343753 
 
Inscribed 
 
 to all persons 
 
 who have been aroused 
 
 by the majesty of Mount Minsi 
 
 and the delicate beauty of 
 
 Caldeno Falls 
 
The Lure of Mt. Minsi .... 4 
 
 Caldeno Falls .5 
 
 Diana's Bath 8 
 
 Beside a Tarn 10 
 
 The Promontory 12 
 
 Drifting at the Delaware Water Gap . 14 
 
®I|p aj«« nf Mi. Jitnat 
 
 Like furious swashing swaying seas 
 
 Mt. Minsi's winds sing symphonies. 
 
 There chastened air clears mind for truth 
 
 And charges Hmbs with vim of youth; 
 
 With heart forever like the dawn 
 
 There I shall wander on and on; 
 
 Through shrouding mist, o'er threatening scar, 
 
 I'll climb the trail whose end 's a star. 
 
 To quell the riot in my breast 
 I must heed Minsi's loud behest! 
 
In a covert cool and dim 
 
 O'er which trees both great and grim 
 
 Lean with limb entwined in limb; 
 
 In this dank and darkling dell 
 
 Like a cave where monk doth dwell. 
 
 Thinking that his soul is well; 
 
 Mountain waters gently play- 
 On their leaf-hid winding way. 
 Dashing into softest spray. 
 
To the tinkling water's brink 
 Downy mosses creep to drink 
 While their sleepy wee eyes blink. 
 
 Timid flowerets here and there 
 
 Tremble in the chilly air 
 
 That doth lift their gossamer hair. 
 
 Now and then the whir of wings 
 Brings a mountain bird that sings 
 Rarely, to his bardic springs. 
 
Where I see her waters fall, 
 Where I hear her liquid brawl, 
 I 'm Caldeno's willing thrall. 
 
WmuB latli 
 
 Where the straight tall evergreens 
 Make a veil which daylight screens 
 Where the rhododendron bloom 
 Fills the air with its perfume, 
 In this scented deepened shade 
 Leaps Caldeno's clear cascade. 
 
 At its base, enclosed in fern. 
 This rill grows a spacious urn; 
 Clear and cool its waters are. 
 Flashing like a lovely star; 
 Here hid from the mountain path 
 Is far-famed Diana's Bath. 
 
Where the light is afterglow. 
 Where the moss is soft like snow. 
 Here, 'tis whispered, is the place 
 Haunted by that classic grace. 
 Here within the favored tide 
 Laves the immortal starry-eyed. 
 
a a 
 
 Where the mountain-ridge looms high, 
 Where the large boughs brush the sky. 
 Where the wanderer must grope 
 His trail up the wooded slope. 
 Where untainted winds distill 
 Vigor on the weary will. 
 There hemmed in by tree and brake 
 Is a placid sapphire lake. 
 
 Like a gem of brightest sheen 
 Lies this tarn encased in green: 
 In its clearness all the day 
 Dextrous fish flash round in play. 
 
 10 
 
Or are poised in perfect grace 
 In their lonely watery place. 
 And to loiterers impart 
 Knowledge of their swimming art. 
 
 Here beside the lakelet's calm 
 Where glad breezes drop their balm. 
 Here beneath the splendid star 
 Where the cunning fishes are. 
 Here hid in this mountain spot 
 Where the busy world is not, 
 Here man must forget his care 
 And his soul ascend in prayer. 
 
 11 
 
Where the cloud-mass drifts 
 
 And spins and shifts 
 The huge sheer wall of rock uplifts; 
 
 There the eagle wheels 
 
 When thunder peals; 
 And there man's mind is awed and reels. 
 
 Far 'neath cliff and pine 
 
 The waters shine 
 A long and narrow tortuous line; 
 
 In his fragile boat 
 
 Man so remote 
 Is but a feeble fay afloat. 
 
 12 
 
Then the eye surveys 
 
 The glorious maze 
 Of vale and peaks and sky and haze; 
 
 To the utmost goal 
 
 A boundless shoal 
 Of mountain billows lift and roll. 
 
 13 
 
irifting at t\\t i^lamar^ 
 later ^ap 
 
 The sun goes down! 
 
 Mt. Minsi's crown 
 Flames into purple, gold, and brown: 
 
 Ten-thousand notes 
 
 Trill from the throats 
 Of vesper birds as my skiff floats. 
 
 In passing by 
 
 The dizzy eye 
 Beholds peaks vanish in the sky: 
 
 Then in romance 
 
 Bursts the expanse 
 Beyond the cliffs as I advance. 
 
 14 
 
Daylight has sped. 
 
 And overhead 
 A single star peeps from the dead: 
 
 And evermore 
 
 From shore to shore 
 Drifts my canoe as Hfe were o'er. 
 
 15 
 
I *m going where my soul has rest, 
 I *m going where my soul gets zest! 
 
PR 3 1313 
 
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