Incessantly thy waters thus have rolled
Through the dim aeons of unmeasured Time,
While God was fashioning His work sublime,
Or ere His sulphurous forges could grow cold!
When Egypt loved Osiris and retold
His charmed birth from out Nilotic slime,
When Chaldea read the stars, and Homer's rhyme
Was yet undreamt -- Niagara thundered bold.
So night and day throughout coverging years
Hoarse voices rose above the hissing spray
Scaring the lonely Indian on the shore!
These bellowing chasms harbored nameless fears --
Demons and dragons in contorted play
Lashing the frightened waters evermore!
Source: Rev. James B. Dollard. Poems. Toronto: The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada, 1910.