Niagara Falls ! stupendous, beautiful,
Enduring monument of Power Divine !
Thy white-foam pillars ever moving stand,
And ever standing move harmoniously
To the rough music of the dashing spray,
And roaring tumult of the boiling base.
‡How long has tuned this mystic minstrelsy ?
When did thy swift but solemn march begin ?
When wast thou first heaved o’er those heights sublime
That fringe, with green, Ontario’s mantle blue ?
How long hast thou been grinding down that steep
That frames the wonder of a wondrous world,
And holds thy silvery vestments to the sun ?
Niagara Falls ! stupendous, beautiful,
Enduring monument of Power Divine !
Thy white-foam pillars ever moving stand,
And ever standing move harmoniously
To the rough music of the dashing spray,
And roaring tumult of the boiling base.
‡How long has tuned this mystic minstrelsy ?
When did thy swift but solemn march begin ?
When wast thou first heaved o’er those heights sublime
That fringe, with green, Ontario’s mantle blue ?
How long hast thou been grinding down that steep
That frames the wonder of a wondrous world,
And holds thy silvery vestments to the sun ?
To see the full text of this long poem, visit the Hathi Trust scanned copy at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t0jt0gq1q;view=1up;seq=14
Source: Liston, James Knox. Niagara Falls a poem in three cantos. Toronto: The Author, 1843. Scanned copy from the Hathi Trust