Similes Poem by Albert Pike

I.
Above me snows and ice-crags, and around
The Cordilleras towering, grand and stern;—
Near me a stream over the black rocks bounding,
Its echoes from the caverned slopes resounding:—
Off in the distance a blue, grass-rimmed lake,
Through which the stream shoots, and the slight waves make
A soft, low music on the pebbled shore.
The sun's rays its blue bosom penetrate,
And still the thirsty waters beg for more;
And still the sun, from his exhaustless store,
Rains down his beams, until, wi|h its full freight,
The lake appears a sheet of silver light
And liquid diamonds, flashing a full return
Back to the generous sun.
Thou, fair and bright,
Star of my soul! for whom for ever burn
The altars of my soul's idolatry,
Let thy soft rays of love into the sea
Of my sad soul sink and become a part
Of it and of its essence; then shall I,
Strong with thy strength, and struggling with stout heart,
Effect somewhat, before it comes to me to die.

II.
Lo! the great mountain's snowy shoulders gleam,
Above the clouds, high in the upper air;
Perpetual sentinels the giants seem
Of the lake's quiet. Their gray heads are bare
In God's great presence, which is mighty there,
In the ethereal, thin, keen element.
One floating cloud hath down from heaven leant,
Far down one slope, and feeds the springing leaves,
And silently condensing into dew,
Feeds the parched grass that gratefully receives
The welcome gift, and gladly grows anew,
And smiles in the light.
Dear lady of my love!
My soul's throned Queen, all empresses above!
Though distant from me half a continent,
Where other clouds are floating past the shores
Against which the Atlantic, dashing, roars;
Be thou like this one, which the Pacific sent,
As tribute to the haughty mountains. Here,
Like a soft cloud or rosy atmosphere,
Let thy dear love envelope me, and bless
My sad soul's thirsty desert and parched wilderness.