 | The battle of Niagara |  |
Hark!—there is musick in the hollow sky!
Something mysterious parading by—
'Tis the loud march—the echoing band of heaven
Marshalled aloft—in revelation given
To all, who when, sublimely, up the air
Great midnight moves in dim magnificence;
Are out upon the hills; and, kneeling there,
In the dread feeling of Omnipotence—
Breathe to the awful symphonies that go
Around the vaulted sky, and penetrate
Each gloomy spot—where secret waters flow—
And nature sits alone and desolate,
Upon her Rocky throne—and see, away
The dread machinery of air in play—
The tracking meteors, as they pour along
All luminous with fiery hair, and sweep
Athwart the grand, illuminated deep—
Like a descending firmament—but stay!—
O, listen! listen!—that awakening song!
That awful burst! so windy—far and strong
With loud, ungovernable melody—
And now—'tis gone—'tis melted in the sky—
And all the world is silent—how like death—
All gone—for ever!—like some passing breath!—
Something mysterious parading by—
'Tis the loud march—the echoing band of heaven
Marshalled aloft—in revelation given
To all, who when, sublimely, up the air
Great midnight moves in dim magnificence;
Are out upon the hills; and, kneeling there,
In the dread feeling of Omnipotence—
Breathe to the awful symphonies that go
Around the vaulted sky, and penetrate
Each gloomy spot—where secret waters flow—
And nature sits alone and desolate,
Upon her Rocky throne—and see, away
The dread machinery of air in play—
The tracking meteors, as they pour along
All luminous with fiery hair, and sweep
Athwart the grand, illuminated deep—
Like a descending firmament—but stay!—
O, listen! listen!—that awakening song!
That awful burst! so windy—far and strong
With loud, ungovernable melody—
And now—'tis gone—'tis melted in the sky—
And all the world is silent—how like death—
All gone—for ever!—like some passing breath!—
| The battle of Niagara | |