Painted by H. Adlard, print by W.H. Bartlett
Courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library
THOU inland sister-sea, Ontario !
‡‡To glide upon thy bosom is sublime ;
There note thy peaceful, steady, onward flow.
‡‡Ceaseless and constant as the course of time !
Thy waters seem the same, — yet ever new —
‡‡Fed by a thousand streams on either side ;
The same clear sky, the same thy depths of blue,
‡‡Free as the nations bord’ring on thy tide !
Vast upper-lakes feed thee with lib’ral hand,
‡‡From higher lands as new as thine hath been ;
Where still the Indian and his wigwam stand.
‡‡He half amaz’d with what his eyes hath seen !
To thy embrace — like gallant lover bold —
‡‡Niagara rushes in his mad career.
Till tir’d and spent, past whirling eddies cold,
‡‡He calmly sinks to rest when thou art near !
Last of the inland seas ! — yet nearest home —
‡‡Thy waters soon shall swell the mighty deep,
And mingle with the ocean’s briny foam,
‡‡There shalt thou rest — and there for ever sleep !
Source: John Imrie. Sacred Songs, Sonnets, and Miscellaneous Poems. Toronto: Imrie & Graham, 1886