Tag: Niagara Falls

Seeing Niagara by Lini Grol

All excited,
they landed with their camera
to see all of Canada,
but most of all,
that great NIAGARA FALL.

Worldy-wise they ignore
the neon signs enticing them
to spend their precious time,
and dole out their hard-won yens.

Eagerly they go on
then falter to a silent stare
at the Niagara in its roaring Fall …
Intimidated, for a moment
they marvel at its immense powers.
Then turning
they quietly drink
in with glowing delight
the scent and sight
of the billions of flowers,
who silently ring
the roaring powers
of the Niagara Falls.

Source: Grol, Lini, ed. by Kevin McCabe and Lynne Prunskus. Lake to Lake: Lini Grol’s Niagara.  St. Catharines: Blarney Stone Books, c2000.

Niagara Falls by Lini Grol

Grol Niagara Falls
Lini Grol

The heart of the world
beats at NIAGARA FALLS.
It is there that freely races
religions and every nation meet.

Countryless people gather there,
forgetting for a while their painful past,
and the deep black void in their future.

Close-eyed, the sexy and the sexless
wander, mingle and gamble there,
hopefully climbing steps leading nowhere.

NIAGARA FALLS, a city halved, an oasis
to the beloved, the adored, as well as to the despised,
the addicted, the hunted, or those totally ignored.

Source: Grol, Lini, ed. by Kevin McCabe and Lynne Prunskus. Lake to Lake: Lini Grol’s Niagara.  St. Catharines: Blarney Stone Books, c2000.

 

Lelawala: The Maid of the Mist by Lini Grol

grol lelawala
Lelawala – scissorcut by Lini Grol, 1996

(From an old Indian legend of the maiden and
her lover who went over Niagara Falls)

Lelawala, Lelawala,
The beautiful Lelawala
With the light of the moon in her hair.
Lelawala, Lelawala,
With the warmth of a fire in her voice;
And her eyes — Lelawala —
With the grace
And the gentleness of a doe.
Lelawala, Lelawala,
With the swiftness of a swallow
To help those in sorrow.
Lelawala, Lelawala,
With the wisdom of owls, Lelawala,
With a heart warm for everyone;
Lelawala, Lelawala,
To good for any man, meant for a god.

Source: Grol, Lini, ed. by Kevin McCabe and Lynne Prunskus. Lake to Lake: Lini Grol’s Niagara.  St. Catharines: Blarney Stone Books, c2000.

At Niagara by Richard Watson Gilder

Richard Watson Gilder as an American Civil War soldier. By Sarah Wyman Whitman
R. W. Gilder as an American Civil War soldier. By Sarah Wyman Whitman

There at the chasm’s edge behold her lean
Trembling as, ‘neath the charm,
A wild bird lifts no wing to ‘scape from harm;
Her very soul drawn to the glittering green,
Smooth, lustrous, awful, lovely curve of peril;
While far below the bending sea of beryl
Thunder and tumult — whence a billowy spray
Enclouds the day.

What dream is hers? no dream hath wrought that spell!
The long waves rise and sink;
Pity that virgin soul on passion’s brink,
Confronting Fate — swift, unescapable, —
Fate, which of nature, is the intent and core,
And dark and strong as the steep river’s pour,
Cruel as love, and wild as love’s first kiss!
Ah, God! the abyss!

Source: Myron T. Pritchard, comp. Poetry of Niagara. Boston: Lothrup Publishing Co., 1901
First published in his The Great Remembrance and Other Poems, New York: The Century Co., 1893

Niagara by James Kershaw

James Kershaw
James Kershaw
particles
 pounding
  through
   the neck
    of  Time
      shaping
       this wall
        of white thunder ...
 

dreams
       shape
              me
I find them in a pool
gather them up in my hand
they are worn like marbles ...

Source:  Baltensperger, Peter, and Baltensperger, Brenda (eds.) Voices from the Niagara, St. Catharines, Moonstone Press, c.1987.

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