Photo by Bob Glover on Find a Grave
Man may look with wonder at the pyramids,
May stand unabashed before the deep blue ocean,
And flee with hasty steps the wild commotion
Of trembling earthquakes on the continent !
I have looked with wonder at the statue of Apollo,
That stretched its brazen legs and ponderous feet
Across the harbor while the distant fleet
Of Egypt sink behind the waves and rise,
As seen through the brazen statue’s glassy eyes,
But all the wonders of the world are but a mite,
They are only frail toys and bubbles in thy sight,
They’d sink like broken reeds beneather thy endless pow’r ;
In the deep and dark abyss with thundering roar !
Tell me, O mighty cataract, for how many ages,
Before Homer sang or before the ancient sages
Lived and toiled for fame, then died,
Had thy foaming, tumbling, and incessant tide
Sent through the wilderness and along the craggy shore
The rebounding echo of thy sullen roar ?
Tell me how long before the Roman Empire rose and fell,
Or along the Nile was heard a trembling knell,
When the last Pharaoh to death’s summons bowed,
And gave his royal sceptre for a winding shroud,
Had thy crushing water fell without an eye to wonder
Or an ear to hear the echo of thy thunder ?
Thou art wonderful, and magnificently grand !
And mirrored in thy watery foam I see the hand
That hurls the planets in their fearful course,
That speeds the comets and that curbs the force
Of the volcanoes’ rushing fiery tide !
But what are these, O mighty cataract, compared with thee ?
What the ley Alpine hills or maddened sea ?
Yet when I see the bow that spans thy watery spray
The vision of thy fearful vortex fades away;
Then I only see the larger Isis and the gentle shower,
And bow before thee, thou mighty emblem of Eternal Power !
“Written at Niagara Falls for The Dansville Express“
Source: The Danville Express, August 12, 1886
