Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By The Lay of a Mountain SpiritJames A. Jones (1791–1854)
I
Discoursing with a lowland Fay.
They sat beside a prattling fountain,
Just ere the cock proclaim’d the day.
The Mountain Spirit bears a pine,
Sere neighbor to an iron mine—
His locks the rock-moss gray.
The little urchin shakes a vine,
Whereon the rich black clusters shine,
And carols he a lay,
Which bids his mountain listeners note
The joys that o’er the valley float.