 | Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell |  |
297
NIAGARA.
I.
Let there be silence; it befits a scene
Glorious as when God first pronounced all good;
Let not the world upon the thoughts intrude,
For He is here who through all time hath been.
His greatness in the cataract is seen,
Whose rush of whirling waters offers food
For solemn meditation's reverent mood.
Oh, let the eye be vigilant, and keen
Glorious as when God first pronounced all good;
Let not the world upon the thoughts intrude,
For He is here who through all time hath been.
His greatness in the cataract is seen,
Whose rush of whirling waters offers food
For solemn meditation's reverent mood.
Oh, let the eye be vigilant, and keen
To hold the torrent leaping from yon height,
Pure, radiant, glittering, exquisitely clear,
Till worlds of beauty open on the sight,
And earth and all its trifles disappear.
So to thine ear the loud harmonious roar
Will come with echoes from the eternal shore.
Pure, radiant, glittering, exquisitely clear,
Till worlds of beauty open on the sight,
And earth and all its trifles disappear.
So to thine ear the loud harmonious roar
Will come with echoes from the eternal shore.
298
II.
How fine the sweep of seething billowy sea,
Which o'er the precipice so grandly breaks,
And with its thunders earth and heaven shakes,
As down it rolls in awful majesty,
Untamed, unfettered, strong, resistless, free,
Fed by the waters of four mighty lakes!
The awed and dazzled eye with beauty takes
That foaming cataract, a joy to see,
Which o'er the precipice so grandly breaks,
And with its thunders earth and heaven shakes,
As down it rolls in awful majesty,
Untamed, unfettered, strong, resistless, free,
Fed by the waters of four mighty lakes!
The awed and dazzled eye with beauty takes
That foaming cataract, a joy to see,
And o'er the rock green sheets of emerald flow,
Which rise again in clouds of luminous spray,
While the sun smites the mists till rainbows glow
To crown the waters, which upon their way
Impetuous hurry to the gulf below,
In milk-white torrents of tumultuous snow.
Which rise again in clouds of luminous spray,
While the sun smites the mists till rainbows glow
To crown the waters, which upon their way
Impetuous hurry to the gulf below,
In milk-white torrents of tumultuous snow.
| Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell | |