I would bring you a song, O lakes:
A song of delight and desire;
A song of the spring that wakes,
Of the warm red light that shakes
Far over your white ice-pyre.

I would breathe you a song, O lakes;
A song of the love that thrills
The heart of the year, and breaks
The bonds of winter, and eases
The thirst of the season in tiny little streams and rills.

I would breathe you a song, O lakes;
And the bountiful answer you give, O lakes;
And the love and the music it wakes
Entrances my spirit and makes
Me thankful to God that I live!