Nature here in royal mood
Built herself a pleasaunce wood ;
Built it on a frowning scaur
High as mountain summits are,
And around it made to flow
Seas that fall in deeps below.
Near where waters fiercest sweep,
Bade she blue-ey’d gentians creep ;
Ferns spring up from mossy beds,
Snow-white daisies lift their heads,
Briar rose and golden rod
Set she thick in grassy sod.
Then her sovereign taste to please
Planted out great forest trees ;
Titians crown’d with myriad leaves
Flaunting to the sun and breeze,
Rooted them as in some scene,
Quiet valleys roll between.
And her fancy to complete
In this favorite wonder-seat,
Stole she rainbows from the skies,
Bright with heav’ns resplendent dyes,
Arched them o’er the raging Fall
Watch to keep above them all .
Source: Rhine, Alice Hyneman. Niagara Park Illustrated :Original and Selected Descriptions, Poems and Adventures. New York : Niagara Pub. Co., 1885. Rhine did not include this poem in the 1888 edition of this book.
Good poem.