Drawn June 1806 by D. Wadsworth, from nature
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
Roar, raging torrent—and thou mighty river
Dash thy white waves on the valley below ;
Frown, ye dark mountains, and shadow for ever
The deep rocky bed where the rude rapids flow.
The green sunny glade and the smooth flowing fountains,
Brighten the home of the coward and slave,
The flood and the forest, the rock and the mountain,
Rear on their bosom the free and the brave.
While pours thy broad wave like a torrent from heaven,
Each son thou shalt rear in the battle’s wild shock,
When the death speaking blast of the trumpet is given,
Shall charge like thy waters, or stand like thy rocks ;
Though his roof be the clouds, and the ground be his pillow—
Though he stride the rough mountain or toss on the foam,
He will strike fast and well on the field or the billow,
In triumph Columbia !—for God and his home.
Source: The Albion. June 6, 1835. Signed H. Clinch, Esq.
This poem is almost identical to the first and last (6th) stanzas of the poem Niagara by Joseph Rodman Drake
Also published with minor changes in: The Southern Warbler: A New Collection. Charleston: Babcock & Co., 1845 and in Songs of Ireland and Other Lands. New York: D. & J. Sadlier, 1847
One thought on “Niagara by H. Clinch”