Rejoice (Carlsbad)

Joy is the sweet voice, Joy the luminous cloud--         We in ourselves rejoice! -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Dejection: An Ode

First Splendor (Kings Canyon)

Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! -William Wordsworth, Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

Signal Tree (Kings Canyon)

"One morn I missed him, on the customed hill, Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; -Thomas Gray (1716-1771), Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Rejoice (Kings Canyon)

"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice, Saying, `Come out from the grove, my love & care, And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.'" -William Blake (1757-1827), The Little Black Boy

Celestial Fire (Kings Canyon)

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; -Thomas Gray (1716-1771), Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Misty Mountain Winds (Yosemite)

And let the misty mountain winds be free To blow against thee: and in after years, When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure, when thy mind Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, Thy memory be as a dwelling-place For all sweet sounds and harmonies; -William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

Kiss of Clouds (Yosemite)

And oft, as if her head she bowed, Stooping through a fleecy cloud. -John Milton (1608-1674), Il Penseroso

Eternal Sunshine (Yosemite)

As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. -Oliver Goldsmith (c.1730-1774), The Deserted Village

Yearning (Yosemite)

Either disperse these mists, which blot and fill     My perspective, still, as they pass: Or else remove me hence unto that hill     Where I shall need no glass. -Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), They Are All Gone into the World of Light

Winter's Passion (Yosemite)

For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. -William Shakespeare (1564-1616), When Daffodils Begin to Peer, from The Winter's Tale

Peek (SF Bay)

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Captive Light (Great Smoky Mountains)

If a star were confin'd into a tomb,     Her captive flames must needs burn there; But when the hand that locked her up, gives room,     She'll shine through all the sphere. -Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), They Are All Gone into the World of Light

Thunder Clouds (White Sands)

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), The Eagle

Desert Chariot (White Sands)

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near, And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. -Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), To His Coy Mistress

Aspring Wings (Carlsbad)

In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes! On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? -William Blake (1757-1827), The Tyger

Cloud City (Rainier)

Even so my son one early morn did shine With all-trimphant splendour on my brow; But, out, alack! he was but one hour mine, The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now. -William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen, Sonnet XXXIII

Cloud City (Rainier)

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,     Like stars upon some gloomy grove, Or those faint beams in which this hill is dressed,     After the sun's remove. -Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), They Are All Gone into the World of Light

Rising Shroud (Rainier)

There is in God (some say) A deep, but dazling darkness; As men here Say it is late and dusky, because they             See not all clear; -Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), The Night

I Saw Eternity (Rainier)

I saw Eternity the other night Like a great ring of pure and endless light.     All calm, as it was bright; And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years,     Driv'n by the spheres Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world     And all her train were hurl'd. -Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), Silex Scintillans (1655), The World

Dance of the Spirit (Rainier)

While all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white Moon-shine. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 1798

Meet Me by Moonlight (Rainier)

Meet Me by Moonlight Alone. -Joseph Augustine Wade (1796-1845), Title of Poem

Wonder Land (Rainier)

I thou be'st borne to strange sights,     Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights,     Till age snow white hairs on thee. -John Donne (1572-1631), Go and Catch a Falling Star

Falling Stars (Rainier)

When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? -William Blake (1757-1827), The Tyger

Endless Night (Rainier)

And, as a vapor or a drop of rain,     Once lost, can ne'er be found again,     So when or you or I are made     A fable, song, or fleeting shade,     All love, all liking, all delight     Lies drowned with us in endless night. -Robert Herrick (1591-1673), Corinna's Going a-Maying

Light and Motion (Rainier)

But thou wilt never more appear Folded within my hemisphere: Since both thy light and motion Like a fled star is fall'n and gone; -Henry King (1592-1669), Exequy on His Wife