"The Mist" (1877)
Words by John Westall
Music by George Frederick Root, 1820-1895

Cincinnati: John Church & Co.
Chicago: Root & Sons Music Co.
[Source: p. 45 from "The New Song Era"]

1. The mist lies on the landscape,
The bay, the woods, the fields,
And to the list’ning spirit
Its silent lesson yields.

2. All things appear enchanted;
The land across the bay
Is rising into uplands,
Unseen in open day.

3. Thus does the mist of feeling
Sometimes enchant the thought,
And so we’re led to error,
And into evil brought.

4. ’Tis only by the sunlight
Of perfect truth we know
The forms and true relations
Of all above, below.