Tag: nature

Niagara Falls by Phillip W.Weiss

Phillip W. Weis
Phillip W. Weis

Niagara Falls
majestic curtains
of surging water
cascading, never-ending,
onto the jagged rocks below.

Creating a roar,
like rolling thunder,
a tidal wave of sound
reverberating off the cliffs,
both powerful and soothing,
it can even lull a baby
    to sleep.

And of course the mist,
floating high into the sky,
like plumes of gossamer silk,
meeting the rays of the sun,
forming radiant rainbows,
each a crescent of dazzling colors,
like a tiara of diamonds
adorning the royal head of
    a noble queen.

For Niagara Falls
is nature’s gift to humanity:
her splendor unmatched,
her beauty sublime,
to be admired and treasured,
    like a priceless gem,
for all times.


Copyright (c)2004 Phillip W. Weiss

Source: The author, 2004.

See his other poem on this site, Surging Water

Phillip W. Weiss’ literary website
Phillip W Weiss’ photographic website

Niagara Falls – The paradise on earth by Rakhi Jain

Someone once told me, ‘seeing is believing’,
How pertinent that was, I found after exploring,
This artwork of nature, beauty sprinkled everywhere,
The raging river, the fretted fall, the magical mist, that I wish to share.

The white foamy flow,
the mighty wind that blows,
The sunshine is golden,
surely I can say, my heart is stolen!

The rainbow that joins, the heaven to this earth,
The beauty I feel, is in no way dearth,
So much of joy, so much of pleasure,
This lovely sight does have to offer.

The ‘maid of the mist’, lets you meet it face to face,
The gusts, the downdrafts, can’t help but blaze,
‘Journey behind the falls’, leaves you dazed,
With the beauty, enigma and the amazing grace

The gush of water, is though fierce and harsh,
falling down with so much of splash!
But as it descends, the resplendence is endless,
Down as it reaches, it turns into an angel!

This is the moral, it bestows upon us,
Whatever pinnacle we may achieve, let us not lose our humility!

Copyright @ Rakhi

Source: Haryana Online, 2004

Niagara by Martin Farquhar Tupper

Martin F. Tupper
Martin F. Tupper

I longed for Andes all around, and Alps,
Hoar kings and priests of Nature robed in snow,
Throned as for judgement in a solemn row,
With icy mitres on their giant scalps,
Dumb giants frowning at the strife below.

I longed for the sublime. Thou art too fair,
Too fair, Niagara, to be sublime!
In calm, slow strength thy mighty floods do flow
And stand a cliff of cataracts in the air,
Yet all too beauteous Water, bride of Time!

Veiled in soft mists and cinctured by the bow,
Thy pastoral charms may fascinate the sight,
But have not power to set my soul aglow,
Raptured by fear and wonder and delight.

Source: Kevin McCabe, ed. The Poetry of Old Niagara. St. Catharines, Ont. : Blarney Stone Books, 1999.

Published in Martin Farquhar Tupper.  Three Hundred Sonnets.  London: Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co., 1860.

Also published: G. W. Holley, ed. Niagara: Its History and Geology, Incidents and Poetry. New York, 1872.

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

Niagara by Elizabeth Henry

Thund’ring waters!
Plunging downward, age on age in ceaseless might
Free, defiant, still unconquered,
Grand and awe-inspiring sight,
          Terrible Niagara!

Churning waters!
Crashing, rockward, sweeping all within thy path
Killing, crushing, maiming all things
In thy fury and thy wrath,
          Merciless Niagara!

Foaming waters!
Swirling ever, spray and spume flung far and wide,
Rainbow tinted are thy mist veils
Fitting for the fairest bride,
          Beautiful Niagara!

Restless waters!
Ageless symbol of our country, strong and free,
Ever moving, surging onward,
Fearing not what is to be,
          Glorious Niagara!

Source: Niagara Falls Review, October 16, 1967

First Place Winner of the Women’s Centennial Committee Prose and Poetry Contest.

Niagara by C. E. Whiton-Stone

Portrait of Cara Elizabeth Whiton-Stone
Gift inscription by Cara Elizabeth Whiton-Stone

What wild convulsion in the ages past
Shook thee to such immeasurable unrest,
Oh, mad Niagara?     Did the huge crest
Of some black mountain, splintered by a blast
From Heaven down-bolted, leave these fissures vast
Whence rush thy waters?     Or was ocean pressed
From its storm-beaten shores, to dash thy breast
And hurl out rage from thee, while Time shall last?
          Rage on, imperial mystery, that thou art;
          Chance, in the azoic age, with wonders rife,
          At mandate of the gods, from out earth’s heart,
          In embryo doomed to everlasting strife,
          Thou sprang’st defiant, thundering to thy part,
          Magnificent and terrible, as Life.

Rage on, for giant raging thou may’st show,
Through veins that interlace the land, thy power,
And with thy foaming passion, bring to flower
The genius of man; may’st writhing go
Like a colossal serpent, to and fro,
Winding through ribs of steel that massive tower,
And so imprisoned, strike the zenith hour
When science shall supremest secret know:
          I liken thee to soul wherein is pent
          Divinest madness, that song surging keeps,
          Till by unconquerable forces rent,
          To mighty music it majestic sweeps.
          As the great Odyssey blind Homer sent
          Crashing sublimely down eternal steeps.

Source: Myron T. Pritchard, comp. Poetry of Niagara. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Co., 1901.