Flow, like ocean waves
Everywhere
Reaching
Roslyn C. is a student in Ms. Chivers’ special needs class at A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Flow by Roslyn C.
Author: Andrew Porteus
Andrew Porteus is a retired librarian who started the Niagara Falls Poetry Project in 1998 in order to gather in one place the hundreds of poems that exist about Niagara Falls. Andrew returned to Brock University to get a Master of Art degree based on the website
Cherish by Breanna T.
Choices you make
Help me become who I am
Every day
Restful nights spent together
In your comforting care
So much better with each new day
Heavy with gratitude for you
Breanna T. is a student in Ms. Chivers’ special needs class at A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Flowers by Aileen S.
Forever thankful
Love your company
Photo by Julia Zyablova on Unsplash
Overprotective
Wonderful heart
Enjoyment and excitement
Remembering me
Side by side
…
Aileen S. is a student in Ms. Chivers’ special needs class at A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Niagara Falls Pagoda at Sunset by Mary
To Mr. & Mrs. Robinson, of the garden at Point View
George Stacy, Publisher, c1860
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
O, wondrous scene ! how mighty thou
Who shaped the forms on which I gaze !
Thy signal 's on
Niagara 's brow,
Thy voice is heard amid its waves .
Skeptic, from haunts of care-worn man
Thy weary feet now turn aside ;
This skilful fabric once ascend,
Despite of care, and fear, and pride,
And gaze abroad as I have gazed,
And think as God has thought of thee :
List here his voice—see here his power ,
And look thou on eternity.
Then lift thine arm, if e'en thou canst—
Thy puny arm, this summer 's even :
The sky above—the cataract 'neath,
And swear there is no God in heaven.
Vain, vain, man ! that awful voice
Of mighty waters bids thee stay,
Nor tempt, by rude blasphemy, HIM,
Before whom earth shall flee away.
Come, tutor—thou of soul-lit eye
And pallid cheek—this is thy home :
Come, student, with thy purpose high—
'Twill cool thy spirits' fever—come !
Ånd bright eyed—maiden, hasten now,
With fairy footsteps to ascend,
Fling back the ringlets from thy brow,
And here, in adoration bend.
Ye weak !
Ye wise ! 0 ! would ye eye
Eternity from Time's bleak shore,
Gain the PAGODA's summit high,
And list Niagara's solemn roar .
“Mary” is not otherwise identified. Note at the end of the poem: The Pagoda is now complete, and delightfully secure. During the late severe tempest, which seemed destined to prostrate everything within its reach, it stood perfectly erect amid the play of the elements, a noble monument of man’s ingenuity. M. Source: Hulett, T. G. Every Man His Own Guide to the Falls of Niagara. 5th ed. Buffalo: Faxon & Co., 1845
Niagara Falls by George W. Reese
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
