Niagara

Up to the Table-Rock, where the great floodReveals its fullest glory. To the vergeOf its appalling battlement draw near,And gaze below. Or if thy spirit fail,Creep stealthily, and snatch a trembling glanceInto the dread abyss.What there thou see'stShall dwell forever in thy secret soul,Finding no form of language.The vexed deep,Which from the hour that Chaos heard the voice"Let there be light," hath known nor pause, nor rest,Communeth through its misty cloud with HimWho breaks it on the wheel of pitiless rock,Yet heals it every moment. Bending near,Mid all the terror, as an angel-friend,The rainbow walketh in its companyWith perfect orb full-rounded. Dost thou clingThus to its breast, a Comforter, to giveStrength in its agony, thou radiant form,

Born of the trembling tear-drop, and the smileOf sun, or glimmering moon?Yet from a sceneSo awfully sublime, our senses shrink,And fain would shield them at the solemn baseOf the tremendous precipice, and gleanSuch hallowed thoughts as blossom in its shade.

This is thy building, Architect Divine!Who heav'dst the pillars of the Universe.Up, without noise, the mighty fabric rose,And to the clamor of the unresting gulfForever smiting on its ear of rockWith an eternal question, answereth nought.Man calls his vassals forth, with toil and pain;Stone piled on stone, the pyramid ascends,Yet ere it reach its apex-point, he dies,Nor leaves a chiseled name upon his tomb.The vast cathedral grows, with deep-groined arch,And massy dome, slow reared, while race on raceFall like the ivy sere, that climbs its walls,The imperial palace towers, the triumph arch,And the tall fane that tells a hero's praiseUplift their crowns of fret-work haughtily.But lo! the Goth doth waste them, and his herdsThe Vandal pastures mid their fallen pride.But thou, from age to age, unchanged hast stood,Even like an altar to Jehovah's name,Silent, and steadfast, and immutable.

Niagara and the storm-cloud!To the pealOf their united thunder, rugged rocksAmazed reverberate, through depths profoundStreams the red lightning, while the loftiest treesBow, and are troubled. Shuddering earth doth hideIn midnight's veil; and even the ethereal mind,Which hath the seed of immortalityWithin itself,—not undismayed, beholdsThis fearful tumult of the elements.

Old Ocean meets the tempest and is wroth,And in his wrath destroys. The wrecking ship,The sea-boy stricken from the quaking mast,The burning tear wrung forth from many a home,To which the voyager returns no more,Attest the fury of his vengeful mood.But thou, Niagara, know'st no passion-gust;Thy mighty bosom, from the sheeted rain,Spreads not itself to sudden boastfulness,Like the wild torrent in its shallow bed.Thou art not angry, and thou changest not.

Man finds in thee no emblem of himself:The cloud depresseth him, the adverse blastRouseth the billows of his discontent,The wealth of summer-showers inflates his pride,And with the simple faith and love of HimWho made him from the dust, he mingleth much

Of his own vain device. Perchance, even here,Neath all the sternness of thy strong rebuke,Light fancies fill him, and he gathereth strawsOr plaiteth rushes, or illusive twinesGarlands of hope, more fragile still than they.

But in one awful voice, that ne'er has knownChange or inflection since the morn of time,Thou utterest forth that One Eternal Name,Which he who graves not on his inmost soulWill find his proudest gatherings, as the drossThat cannot profit.Thou hast ne'er forgotThy lesson, or been weary, day or night,Nor with its simple, elemental thoughtMixed aught of discord.Teacher, sent from God,We bow us to thy message, and are still.

Oh! full of glory, and of majesty,With all thy terrible apparel on,High-priest of Nature, who within the veil,Mysterious, unapproachable dost dwell,With smoke of incense ever streaming up,And round thy breast, the folded bow of heaven,Few are our words before thee.For 'tis meetThat even the mightiest of our race should standMute in thy presence, and with childlike awe,Disrobed of self, adore his God through thee.

"whose untutored mindSaw God in clouds, or heard him in the wind,"