Poetry of and about Niagara Falls & the Niagara River – the waterfalls, the city, the history, the stunters, and everything else Niagara
Brave men – know the type – who have balls?
Drive stunt cars so fast and through walls…
Normally wear apparel
To protect, but a barrel?!
Are there any survived from these falls?
Source: Laroque, Corey. Here’s What the Poets are Saying. Niagara Falls, Ont.: Niagara Falls Review, November 21, 2009
This limerick was entered into the So You Think You Can Rhyme (2009) Limerick Contest to find Niagara Falls’ Poet Laureate
Go to the Limericks page
[Curator’s Note: Niagara Twice Seen is a long, complexly formatted poem. The prelude is reproduced on the site, with the actual text embedded from a digital copy found on the HathiTrust website.]
Courtesy of Library of Congress
…………………….I. PRELUDE
Once again, ha! these eyes behold
thee, Niagara, young as of old:
the thunderous uproar, the driving spray,
more, ever more, for ever and aye.
Ripple and whirl, pearl-bubble and flake,
enwreathe, unfurl, make, break, remake,
and over the brink flash as they leap,
ere link in link they sweep to the deep.
Green glistery walls, gay rapids that comb,
lacy spume-falls, swift geysers of foam—
and, riding the mist, a beryl span,
rose-amethyst, sun-protean!
*
O ages old, yet unbegun,
O manifold, yet ever one.
thou seemest the same all-glorious,
but we who came—Ah, knowest thou us,
who came to thee as lovers gay
in jubilee of holiday?
Alone, forlorn, I behold thee again,
who laughest to scorn generations of men;
and I yearn for the tide of folly and cheer:
a world that is wide, a heaven that is near;
unthinking delight, improvident faith
that feareth no plight, and endureth no scath!
*
Speak, when do we live? —When, blind to the skies,
self-contemplative we philosophize?
Or, piously drone tried formulæ
to save us alone through eternity?
Or rather, when (high spirits in glee
reckless again of “thee” and of “me”)
the water’s rout to the gaping abysm
is our battle shout, and its spray our chrism?
When its faith august in the blood of us boils,
that we will what we must—herculean toils,—
for, behold, we can the thing that we will,
though the fair hope of man elude us still?
From afar, from afar we have come, and we go
to some unknown star that we ask not to know;
hurtling arrive in a serried host,
with the fury alive of the Holy Ghost,
to hallow, and purge, and perish! Ah, who
shall hinder the surge of the deeds to do?
*
Alas, alas, for such folly of youth!
the years—they pass, till we blink at the truth.
No battle is won. Old ills remain.
No deed can be done—for at length we are sane!
So, we prate of the slow vain cycles of time,
irremediable woe, unavoidable crime,
the treadmill round, dull patience and thrift.
The secret once found? the lost glimpse through the rift?
If a moment we snatch from the nightmare, and dare
the lift of the latch and in vacancy stare,—
we sigh for the gift to some one—not us—
who the burden shall lift opprobrious!
For who hopes—he errs: we are sane, and we walk
slow pall-bearers in solemn, hushed talk
acquiescent, no goal of wisdom ahead;
in doubt of the soul, tho’ of death no dread;
wise forgetters of God, we trudge without shame,
mystery-shod, to no challenging aim!
*
Ha, what here am I who meditate?
and self- pitying sigh at human fate?
The stalwart strife—no feint or deceit—
foiled onslaught on life, defiant retreat,
the rally, the charge, the rout of the foe,
the dwelling at large, and the generous glow,—
be these not worth brief tenure of breath
from adventurous birth to victorious death?
So, once again, ha! these eyes do behold
thee, Niagara, young as of old;
and riding the roar a sunbow’s span:—
thy word evermore to the spirit of man!
Source: William Norman Guthrie. Niagara Twice Seen and Other Verse. Sewanee, Tennessee: The University Press of Sewanee; Cincinnati, Ohio: The Robert Clarke Company, 1910.
Review of “Niagara Twice Seen and Other Verse” from the Sewanee Review, vol 19, no. 1 (January 1911):
Niagara Twice Seen and Other Verse. By William Norman Guthrie. The University Press of Sewanee Tennessee and The Robert Clarke Company of Cincinnati.
A little volume of verse admirable in typography, and in content characterized by the same spirit of bewildering impetuosity that marks the great cataract itself.
Fought 25th July, 1814
Upon this hill where now we gently tread,
’Mid graves and stones—memorials of the dead,
Where greenest turf and sweetest flowerets smile,
And whispering leaves to sacred thoughts beguile—
Where gathering free, with none to break our peace,
From meaner thoughts we claim a short surcease.
We pause, and list to awful memories far
When from this height boomed forth the roar of war.
Soft contrast this to that fierce day and night,
When surge of battle hither rolled in might ;
When shot and shell ploughed all the trampled ground,
And wounded, dead, and dying dropped around.
Pharsalia, not upon thy dreadful plain
Lay in more frequent heaps the gory slain !
But, O proud contrast ! there Ambition fought,
And personal ends the conquering Cæsar sought ;
But here, ’twas Patriotism fired the fight,
And Drummond struck to save our dearest right.—
Drummond, whose name still lives in proud Quebec,
Shall saved Niagara’s foot be on thy neck ?
Can Lundy’s Lane untrue to Drummond live,
Or grudge thy memory all she had to give ?—
Thy right, O Canada, thy Drummond sought,
And from high justice all his valour caught.
He traversed not another’s right To Be,
But sternly guarded thy sweet liberty.
What asks the patriot more? He knows but this—
His country and her welfare very his.
Her honour his, her greatness all his care ;
Quick to defend, her woes his willing share ;
Her name his pride, her future but his own ;
Each word and deed, seed for her harvest sown.
What asks the patriot more? For her to live,
Or gladly for her life his own to give.
Such were thy sons, O Canada, that fought for thee,
Sprung from the boundless West, or utmost sea.
Such are thy sons to-day—the same their sires—
Or French or British quick with loyal fires.
Here on this holy hill their bodies lie
As thick as stars that stud the winter sky.
Here on this hill baptized indeed with fire,
As from an altar may their flames aspire.
O Canada ! Thou of the seven-fold bond ;
Let evermore such sons in thee be found ;
Let evermore thy sons thy guardians be,
High-souled and pure, CONTENT IF THOU BE FREE.
S.A.C.
21st July, 1889
Source: The Dominion Illustrated, vol. III, No. 59, August 17, 1889
The poem was signed S.A.C. S.A.C. was likely Sarah Anne Curzon
is the rush of gravity
is the impulse of water*
is the pull of a mother… child
is the everlasting light of the sun
is the building of power
is the electricity of ages
is the reflection of rainbows
is the promise of peace
is the waking of a dream
is the shift of river
to fall.
From Margaret Simon:
For Fall break, my husband and I visited Niagara Falls. This trip was a bucket list item for me. The Falls did not disappoint. They are an amazing feat of nature, the kind that cannot be captured in a photo or video. You have to be there to hear the sounds of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water falling each second. I took a lot of pictures, but when I look at them now, they pale in comparison to the real live event. I’m so happy we did this trip. I highly recommend it. If you are planning to go, let me know. I have suggestions.
This morning’s (October 18, 2023) Poem-a-Day from the Academy of American Poets was by Emily Lee Luan The warble of melting snow is the river. I borrowed her form for my own poem. I find that using a form helps me get out of my head and allowing creativity to do its magic.
Margaret Simon is a Mississippi native who married into a Louisiana life. She lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana with her husband, Jeff. Their now empty nest once housed three daughters, Maggie, Katherine, and Martha. Margaret has been an elementary school teacher for 31 years, most recently teaching gifted students in Iberia Parish. She has published poems in the journal The Aurorean, anthologies for Today’s Little Ditty, in Poetry Friday Power Book Here We Go, and in National Geographic’s the Poetry of US. Border Press published her collection of poems with her father’s Christmas card art, Illuminate in fall of 2013. Blessen, a novel for young readers, was published in April 2012, also by Border Press. In 2018, UL Press published her first book of children’s poetry, Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape. In her teaching profession, she has a Masters degree in Gifted Education and certification by the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards. Margaret writes a blog regularly at http://reflectionsontheteche.com.
SPIRIT OF THE BIG DITCH: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. By Robert Ratcliffe Taylor
Published by: The Historical Society of St. Catharines
Robert R. Taylor’s latest book, SPIRIT OF THE BIG DITCH, has been decades in the making. It is a richly illustrated 116-page collection of poems and songs that were inspired by the Welland Canals. The full-colour softcover publication includes 73 illustrations and retails for $25.
A unique feature of the book is the inclusion of QR codes with each piece that when scanned, will link the reader to an audio recording of the poem or song. The creative writings in the book are brought to life by special guest performers through their spoken word and sung performances.
SPIRIT OF THE BIG DITCH will be officially released at a Book Launch at the St. Catharines Museum on Tuesday, December 12th, but copies may be obtained earlier in December. It would be appreciated if you could circulate this notice so that others who might be interested are made aware of the publication and its release.
The number of print copies is limited , so purchasers are encouraged to obtain them as soon as possible by contacting the Historical Society of St. Catharines at: HSSC.contact@gmail.com