Is this a painting? Are those pictured clouds br Which on the sky so movelessly repose? br Has some rare artist fashioned forth the shrouds br Of yonder vessel? Are these imaged shows br Of outline, figure, form, or is there life br Life with a thousand pulses-in the scene br We gaze upon? Those towering banks between, br E'er tossed these billows in tumultuous strife? br Billows! there's not a wave! the waters spread br One broad, unbroken mirror; all around br Is hushed to silence-silence so profound, br That a bird's carol, or an arrow sped br Into the distance, would, like larum bell, br Jar the deep stillness and dissolve the spell.