Category: Niagara Falls Poetry

[Father Louis Hennepin] by Captain Flynn

Straight up Frontenac’s Northmost side
Ever a West he sailed,
Crossing in blessed Advent tide,
Landing on great Niagara’s shore.
South he turned to a sullen roar;
His Crucifix on his heart he bore;
Never his spirit failed.

Now Glory to God, whose hand did forge
This wondrous watery road!
On ragged rim of the fearful gorge
South he toiled through brambles and moss,
Past rapids roaring like souls atoss.
He blessed himself with the sign of the Cross
At the cliff where the torrent flowed.

His little altar was quick untied;
Small waxen tapers alight,
He said the Mass of the Sanctified.
Turning South through the wintry haze,
His eyes aglow, his heart ablaze,
At Chippawa’s flow, with a song of praise,
He made his camp for the night.

Source: Ray Corry Bond. Peninsula Village: The Story of Chippawa. Chippawa: [s.n.], 1964.

AGUJERO DEL DIABLO (Cataratas del Niágara) by Margarita Feliciano

        Las hierbas mustias rompen su crisálide,
        sus verdes apagados brillan entre las rocas,
    aún se oye en el viento el aullido del hielo.
                          Las aguas allá abajo
                vertiginosas giran sus despojos,
           mientras la niebla asciende
           hacia la desmemoria del tren funicular,
        aumentando el latido de cables temblorosos
                      que avanzan hacia el fin
                        de un cielo ceniciento.

                          Y así y todo, algún día,
        habrá también narcisos y otras flores
                          en este triste sitio;
               flores ajenas a mi vida de antes
             cuando el río indecible
                     fluíacon suavidad en la miel de su sueño.

        Y a través de los años retornaré a este sitio,
        siempre vendré luciendo una sonrisa
                       -diminuta y modesta-
                       esculpida en mis labios
                       cual signo de pregunta

Source: The Author, 2001

Niagara Falls by Lord Morpeth

Lord Morpeth
Lord Morpeth

“There’s nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall!”
————————————————————————————

Thou mayest not to the fancy’s sense recall,
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning’s leap,
The stirring of the chambers of the deep,
Earth’s emerald green, and many tinted dyes,
The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies,
The tread of armies thickening as they come,
The boom of cannon and the beat of drum;
The brow of beauty and the form of grace,
The passion and the prowess of our race,
The song of Homer in its loftiest hour,
The unresisted sweep of human power
Britannia’s trident on the azure sea,
America’s young shout of liberty!
Oh! may the waves that madden in thy deep,
There spend their rage nor climb the encircling steep, —
And till the conflict of thy surges cease,
The nations on thy banks repose in peace!

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

Also in the anthology Niagara Mornings by Andrew C. Porteus, 2016.

Also published in Holley, G. W., ed. Niagara: Its History and Geology, Incidents and Poetry. Toronto,  Hunter, Rose and Company, 1872

Also published in  Johnson, Richard L. (ed).  Niagara: Its History, Incidents and Poetry. Washington: Walter Neale General Book Publisher, 1898.

Also published in: Holley, George W., ed.  The Falls of Niagara.  Baltimore: A.C. Armstrong & Son, 1883

Lord Morpeth was born George William Frederick Howard, was styled as Lord Morpeth from 1825-1848, then became the 7th Earl of Carlisle until his death in 1864

Niagara by Willis Gaylord Clark

sublime niagara falls
Willis Gaylord Clark By John Sartain. Image from Hathi Trust

 

 

 

Here speaks the voice of God — let man be dumb,
Nor with his vain aspirings hither come.
That voice impels the hollow-sounding floods,
And like a presence fills the distant woods.
These groaning rocks the Almighty’s finger piled;
For ages here his painted bow has smiled,
Mocking the changes and the chance of time —
Eternal, beautiful, serene, sublime!

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

Also Published in the Albany Evening Journal, July 12, 1836, with the note “The following impromtu was inscribed on the Travellers’ Register at Niagara Falls, a few days ago, by the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette.” Selections from The Travellers’ Register were published as the Table Rock Album.

Also published in: Myron T. Pritchard, comp.  Poetry of Niagara. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Co., 1901.

Also published in:  Johnson, Richard L. (ed).  Niagara: Its History, Incidents and Poetry. Washington: Walter Neale General Book Publisher, 1898.

Also published in: Holley, George W., ed.  The Falls of Niagara.  Baltimore: A.C. Armstrong & Son, 1883

Untitled by Martin Durkin

niagara falls tourist
Casino Niagara 2002. The Tower was formerly known as the Oneida Tower. Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library


Amongst the vineyards

She sounds
continuous tambourine
loud celebration of sight
drowning hell and giving
heaven vacant space

We drive
and drive around
tourist inside his
homeland Ontario
viewing it first at 23
and now 5th visit
at 26.

the seasons submerge
forging unison

Here
the beauty female
is born as we stare
snap photos and
take chances on the
betting machines

Each day it pulls
the provinces closer
together
drawing strangers to
drive and stand and glare
at this bowl of white mist
with a playing marching band
hidden below it all

Source: The Author, 2005