Niagara: a Poem by Abraham Moore

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡I.

abraham
Niagara Falls
To Thomas Dixon, esq. This View of the American Falls Taken From Goat Island
paintedby W. J. Bennett, 1829.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

 

‡‡Grandest of Nature’s works, her wildest wreck,
‡‡‡‡Or stateliest shrine !   What ear, Niagara,
‡‡‡‡Thrills not ?   what eye unstartled shall survey
‡‡Thy loud and raging waters, as they break
‡‡Full o’er the fearful precipice, and whelm
‡‡‡‡Thy sea-green Naiads a in the gulf below ?
‡‡Through many a stormy lake, b and boundless realm,
‡‡‡‡And well-fought field c thy winding currents flow,
‡‡Watering the woods, and herds, and creatures rude,
‡‡‡‡That haunt thy brink their hasty draught to steal ;
‡‡‡‡And now for toil or pastime, float or keel,
‡‡Smooth as a glass expands th’ united flood ; d
That youth deluded by the flattering gleam,
Might trust with arm secure the tameness of thy stream.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡II.

‡‡But, lo !  the rocks — and, like a maniac moved,
‡‡‡‡At once thy rage begins, and all around
‡‡‡‡Vex’d by th’ obstreperous waves thy shores resound ;
‡‡Check’d by the steadfast reef, as one reproved,
‡‡More fierce the torrent raves, and flings his froth
‡‡‡‡Aloft, and tosses on his flinty bed.
‡‡‡‡Ill fares the wretch, e who there by night misled,
‡‡Strives with strain’d oar against its matchless wrath :
‡‡For close before him sinks the dreadful steep ;
‡‡‡‡O’er which th’ Herculean stream f shall quickly hurl
‡‡‡‡Him and his struggling bark, with headlong whirl,
‡‡Dash’d on the turrets of the craggy deep,
Many a dark fathom down.   The stunning roar
Ontario’s g ramparts shakes, and Erie’s distant shore.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡III.

‡‡For as th’ incessant and ear-rending clang,
‡‡‡‡When war’s red bolt conflicting navies urge,
‡‡Rolls round the brows and caverns, that o’erhang
‡‡‡‡The main, and mingles with the plunging surge :
‡‡Or as ‘mongst Alpine or Ceraunian peaks
‡‡‡‡His angry trump the midnight thunder blows ;
‡‡‡‡And rocks, and vales, and woods, and towering snows,
‡‡Fling round the restless peal, while o’er them breaks
‡‡From all heav’ns windows sluiced the rushing shower :
‡‡‡‡Such noises loud and deep for ever rave
‡‡Among those foaming waters, as they pour
‡‡‡‡Down on that wrathful and tormented cave, h
Their smouldering crater, in whose ample bound
As in some caldron huge they burst and boil around.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡IV.

‡‡Up flies the steaming spray, and on the flood
‡‡‡‡Sheds the dire umbrage of its winding shroud ;
‡‡‡‡Yet ere to heaven it wreathes its hoary cloud, i
‡‡Far off conspicuous, In her wildest mood 
‡‡Sweet Iris k wantons there, and sketches gay
‡‡‡‡Many a bright segment of her tinted bow,
‡‡‡‡That float their moment till the breezes blow
‡‡The draft and shadowy tablet both away.
‡‡Now stand we on the thin and dizzy ledge l
‡‡‡‡Self-poised and pendent o’er the black abyss,
‡‡And lean, and listen by the torrent’s edge, 
‡‡‡‡And watch its fall, and hear it roar and hiss,
Like serpent foul m whereof old sages sing,
Or Hells divan transformed to hail their venturous king.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡V.

‡‡Descend we next to where the beetling clifts
‡‡‡‡Hang their high cornice o’er the margent steep,
‡‡‡‡Whose uncouth slope their crumbling fragments heap,
‡‡Sole track to yon dark portal,n that uplifts
‡‡In gothic guise its pointed crown, and leads
‡‡‡‡To the dread cloister, in whose vaulted groin
‡‡‡‡The shelving beds and gushing billows join,
‡‡And rock and river blend their arched heads.
‡‡There crawl the slimy reptiles of the deep, 
‡‡‡‡Glazing th’ obnoxious path, and dimly seen
‡‡‡‡By the dull lantern of that drizzling skreen ;
‡‡Through which day’s beams with faint refraction peep,
A baleful radiance pale, that gives the night
Perplexing gleams obscure, the shades of tortured light.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡VI.

‡‡Press not too far thy hardy search, nor trust
‡‡‡‡The doubtful chambers of that untried maze :
‡‡‡‡Know’st thou what base its leaning wall upstays ?
‡‡What floods lie hid behind ? what treacherous crust
‡‡Roofs the blind chasm, that cracks beneath thy tread ?
‡‡‡‡What blights may blast thee, what sub-aqueous sound
‡‡‡‡May mock thy echoing steps, thy sense astound ?
‡‡Or tempt thee where some rash adventurer dead
‡‡Lies wasting unentomb’d ? mark, what a blast ‘
‡‡‡‡Bursts from the chilling entrance ! storm and shower
‡‡‡‡Breathe stern forbiddance from the jealous bower :
‡‡As if the demon of that cataract vast.
Sole anarch there, abhorr’d that tongue should tell
That mortal sight should pierce the secrets of his cell.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡VII.

‡‡But now the Charon of the nether stream o
‡‡‡‡Waves his light oar, and wafts us o’er the tide.
‡‡‡‡With staggering step we scale the rugged side,
‡‡Fast by yon lofty ridge ; o’er whose broad beam
‡‡With stealthy lapse at first the glassy plane p
‡‡‡‡In one bright sheet descends, then streaming all
‡‡‡‡With tresses green, that whiten as they fall,
‡‡Dash’d to ten thousand dews and dusts of rain,
‡‡Breaks on the crags beneath, its rugged floor,
‡‡‡‡The ruins of its rage ; through whose hoarse caves
‡‡‡‡And countless crannies forced the foaming waves,
‡‡‘Scaped their Tarpeian pitch, q with fresh uproar
Rush headlong down, and deeper as they swell
The mixt majestic choir, that shakes that wondrous dell.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡VIII.

‡‡Between the branches of the horned flood
‡‡‡‡With shade of loftiest growth and sunny smile,
‡‡‡‡Commingling graced a cool sequester’d isle r
‡‡Crowns the high steep, and from its echoing wood
‡‡Proclaims the tumults of the restless vale
‡‡‡‡Far round, and calm as Dian’s argent brow
‡‡‡‡Brush’d by the clouds, o’erlooks the storm below.
‡‡There many a stranger woos the breathing gale,
‡‡Worn with his toilsome ramble : there, they say,
‡‡‡‡Stern Winter oft his shining armoury s rears,
‡‡‡‡Framed in his icy forge ; with crystal spears
‡‡And diamond lances hangs each bending spray,
Each trunk with mail, or helm, or buckler bright,
By man’s slow toils unmatched, the fabric of a night.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡IX.

‡‡Back o’er the bridge, t which daring art has thrown
‡‡‡‡Wide o’er the brawling pass (whose yesty streams
‡‡‡‡Flash through each crevice of the dancing beams)
‡‡We haste : the sleepless torrent hurrying on 
‡‡Tow’rds its high leap, and whirling on its way
‡‡‡‡Th’ uprooted pine and oak. The scaly herds
‡‡‡‡Against it tire their powerless helms : the birds
‡‡Of strongest flight, down stooping for their prey
‡‡On that disastrous current, rise no more.
‡‡‡‡Caught by the liquid hurricane they strain
‡‡‡‡Their ineffectual wings, and flap in vain ;
‡‡With screams unnatural tow’rds th’ increasing roar.
Forced on at length in silence down they go,
And glut th’ insatiate gorge, that yawns and yells below.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡X.

‡‡There lifeless oft the wanderers of the wave
‡‡‡‡In glittering shoals are seen ; there sylvan stores,
‡‡‡‡Swoln beasts, and fractured beams, which to their shores
‡‡Wreck’d from those fatal heights the waters lave,
‡‡Or waft promiscuous down, where now between
‡‡‡‡Their towering banks, u far from the wrath behind,
‡‡‡‡Hurrying as if dismay’d and dark they wind
‡‡Their deep contracted deluge. — Pregnant scene ! 
‡‡Wherein fall’n power its own sad act may trace ;
‡‡‡‡Power, that by bounteous heaven from obscure source
‡‡‡‡Advanced, with boundless rule and headlong course
‡‡Long flows ; by ills at times, the rocks of grace,
Check’d, not chastised, still pours its fortunes on,
Wherewith the world resounds, and topples from its throne.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡XI.

‡‡A turbid solitude succeeds, uncheer’d
‡‡‡‡By Fame’s retiring trump, that loud no more,
‡‡‡‡But makes despair more joyless ; as the roar
‡‡Of yon high-falling flood remotely heard,
‡‡Saddens the troubled stream, that groans below.
‡‡‡‡There, save that lonely skiff, no swelling sail
‡‡‡‡Leans her coy bosom from the wanton gale ;
‡‡Lest with its eddying ebb her helpless prow
‡‡The refluent tide should seize, and drift above
‡‡‡‡To th’ howling base of that pernicious steep,
‡‡‡‡Plunged in its whelming shower, who knows how deep ?
Or whirl’d how long upon its watery wheel !
‡‡In the dark dungeon of that hideous cove ;
Whence scarce the buoyant Muse retrieves her vent’rous keel.

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡XII.

‡‡Niagara, such art thou : to equal thee,
‡‡‡‡What are the brooks of Wales, or statelier Clyde, v
‡‡‡‡Or Anio, or Velino, w or the tide
‡‡That shoots the slopes of Nile? x thy breadth a sea,
‡‡Thy shock an earthquake, and thy awful voice
‡‡‡‡The sound of many waters. Grand and bold
‡‡Columbia thus, the child of Nature’s choice,
‡‡‡‡Scales all her wonders to the Rhodian mould, y
‡‡Her lakes are oceans, every stream a bay,
‡‡‡‡Wide through her frame its branching artery throws :
‡‡Her mountains kiss the moon : her sapient sway
‡‡‡‡A beauteous belt z hath wrought, whose ties enclose
Tribes without end, realm after realm embraced
In Freedom’s opening arms, the savage and the waste.


Source: A.M. Niagara: A Poem. New York: J. Seymour, Printer, 1822.  Attributed to Abraham Moore.

About Abraham Moore


NOTES by Abraham Moore: 

a. Thy sea-green Naiads.

The colour of the falling water at Niagara, though of course perfectly fresh, is a beautiful sea-green.

b. Through many a stormy lake, etc.

The river Niagara, which supplies the falls, may be traced through many lakes, and particularly lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie, the former about 1600, and each of the two latter about 800, miles in circumference. About fourteen miles below the falls it empties itself into Lake Ontario, but little inferior in dimensions to Lake Erie.

c.  And well-fought field.

This river, and the lakes through which it flows, being originally a natural, as they are now a conventional boundary, between the American and Canadian territories, have been the scene of many well-known actions between the Indians, French, and English, and between the latter and the United States.

d. Th’ united flood.

About five miles below lake Erie, the river Niagara is divided into two streams forming an island, called Grand Island, about 12 miles long, and nearly as wide ; below which they are re-united into one broad and smooth expanse, which continues about two miles, till it reaches the rapids ; down which it runs through reefs of rocks falling about fifty feet in the course of the last mile ; it is then again divided by a small island, called Goat Island, and falls on each side of it over the precipices which form the Great Cataracts.

e. Ill fares the wretch, etc.

In November, 1821, two men (supposed to be intoxicated) fastened their boat to a wooden bridge across the Chippeway Creek, (which empties itself into the Niagara on the Canadian side, about two miles above the falls,) and fell asleep. By some means, the boat being probably ill-secured, got loose with the men in it, and drifted into the rapids ; where they awoke in the greatest agitation, and were hurried over the falls, and lost. A table, which they had on board, was seen a few days after-wards floating down the stream ; but neither the boat, nor either of the men has ever been heard of since.

f. The Herculean stream.

Alluding not only to the size and strength of the cataract, but to the well-known story of Hercules, who in his last frenzy flung Lichas, his attendant, from the top of Mount Æta, in Greece, into the sea between Locris and Eubaea. — Ovid’s Met. lib. 9. 1. 211 . Milt. Par. Lost, b. 2. 1. 544.

g. Ontario’s ramparts , etc.

Fort George, situated on the Canadian, and Fort Niagara on the American side of the river Niagara, at its entrance into Lake Ontario, distant about fourteen, as its outlet from Lake Erie is about twenty miles from the falls. At both these points their sound is often heard like distant thunder, particularly in calm weather, and in the stillness of the night.

h.  Tormented cave.

The cataract next to the Canadian shore is nearly in the shape of a horse-shoe, or of the pit of a modern theatre ; and if the reader will suppose the water to pour over from the gallery and upper side boxes, one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular, he will have some idea of the shape, but none whatever either of the magnitude or of the noise of this stupendous fall, or of the unapproachable, vast cavern which ingulfs it. Its circuit is about 800 or 900, and its chord about 300 yards, from one point of the horse-shoe to the other.

i.  Its hoary cloud.

The clouds of spray, which are perpetually hovering over these cataracts, are often seen at Buffaloe on Lake Erie as far as their sound is heard. See Note g.

k.  Sweet Iris, etc.

Portions of rainbows are often seen at these falls, varying according to the position of the sun. The author saw many, and particularly observed a small segment of one about ten feet high, rising to the upper skirt of the spray-cloud, that sustained it, and resting its lower end upon the surface of the torrent, as if it grew out of the water. In an instant the wind shifted, the vapour was dispersed, and the brilliant image vanished like a spirit.

l.  The thin and dizzy ledge.

This is a thin plate or slab of rock, projecting from the high bank on the Canadian side, upon a level with, and close by the end of, the horse-shoe fall. It overhangs the base of the cliff, on which it rests, 48 feet ; and is the perilous place to which every visiter is conducted, as the most favourable point for viewing the whole, or at least the grandest part, of this indescribable scene.

m.  Like serpent foul, etc.

See Ovid’s Met. lib. 3. 1. 48. Pind. Ol.. Od. 8. Ep. 2, and
Milt. Par. Lost, b. 10. 1. 505, and Sequel.

n.  To yon dark portal.

This is a dark opening formed by the hanging rock, and shooting cataract, in the shape of a lofty gothic arch ; under which the author, after several anxious but unsuccessful efforts, was prevented from proceeding more than a few yards, by the violent tempest of wind and rain, which continually issues from it. To account for this singular phenomenon is not easy ; it seemed, however, to the author, that the innumerable columns and fragments of air, which are intermingled with, and forced down by the falling water, must necessarily release themselves at the bottom ; and that  half of them at least must force their way into the passage between the cataract and the rock. Out of this prison they have no other vent but through the vaulted opening, where the author encountered the irresistible storm, which all visitors experience, and the cause of which he is unable to explain upon any other principle.

o.  The Charon of the nether stream.

After walking down the stream from the horse-shoe cataract on the Canadian side, about half a mile, you are opposite to the cataract on the American side, which is separated from the former by Goat Island. The reader will observe, that the river runs westward towards the falls, and then turns suddenly to the north ; so that the line of the falls is almost diagonal across the elbow of the river ; and consequently the visitor, after looking at the horse-shoe fall on the Canadian or western side, must go downwards on that side some way before he can be opposite to the cataract on the American side. He then descends from the cliffs near 200 feet to the water’s edge, where a single ferryman rows him in a little wherry across the eddying torrent, and lands him just below the latter cataract.

p.  The glassy plane, etc.

This branch of the cataract breaks off nearly in an even line from the American side towards Goat Island, falls upon a shapeless pile of rocks, that have been precipitated from above, and rushes through their various openings into the lower river.

q.  Scaped their Tarpeian pitch.

It is almost unnecessary to inform the reader, that the Tarpeian rock was the precipice of the Capitol at Rome, over which great criminals were sometimes thrown.

r.  A cool sequestered isle.

This is Goat Island, consisting of about twenty acres of lofty wood, and belonging to Judge Porter; who has, with great skill and spirit thrown a wooden bridge, resting on 7 or 8 piers, from the American shore to a small island, distant about 600 yards, and from thence another, about one third as long, to Goat Island. To this interesting spot the visiter may now fearlessly resort, and standing on the precipice at its western end, find himself placed between the two cataracts, looking down 160 feet perpendicular upon the nether torrent.

s.  His shining armoury rears.

Since this little poem was written, the author has observed this expression, of which he was quite unconscious, in Cowper’s Task, b. 5. It is, however, used there to introduce a train of thoughts so very different, that he does not feel himself open to the charge of plagiarism in suffering it to remain. The clouds of spray which are always rising from these stupendous falls, are speedily congealed during the winter, and settle on the neighbouring trees, casing the trunks with coats of ice, and hanging the branches with a thousand icicles.

t.  Back o’er the bridge.

This bold fabric was constructed by protruding long beams of timber horizontally from the bank, and sending out men on the ends, which hung over the water, (and which were counterpoised with heavy weights placed on the ends that rested on the land,) for the purpose of driving piles, or fixing upon a pier of rock for their support. This being accomplished, a second set of beams were protruded in the same manner from the extremity of the first, till a second pier was gained ; a third followed, and, by a repetition of the same process, the whole structure was completed.

u.  Their towering banks, etc.

For the space of about seven miles from the falls to Queenstown, the river, or rather torrent, rushes along between two rows of cliffs, rising to the height of 200 feet ; through which during a series of ages it seems to have worn or torn its way. From hence some, with much appearance of reason, have supposed, that the falls were originally at Queenstown, where the level of the country sinks almost suddenly to a flat but a little higher than the surface of the river ; and that as the rocky bed of the latter has given way and deepened, the falls have gradually receded to their present site.

v.   The brooks of Wales, or statelier Clyde.

There are many picturesque and interesting waterfalls in Wales, one at a most romantic place called the Devil’s Bridge, falling above 300 feet ; but very few of them fall 100 feet, and the streams which supply them are but rivulets or very narrow rivers, the largest not exceeding 50 yards in breadth, and very few of them above twenty. The Clyde in Scotland is a large river for that country, but the fall is not great. 

w.  Anio or Velino

The celebrated falls of Tivoli, near Rome, upon which so many pencils and pens have been employed, are formed by the descent of the headlong Anio, (Strabo, lib. 6, 364,) as the Cascata del Marmore of Terni is by that of the Velino. See Lord Byron’s Childe Harolde, canto 4, stan. 69.

x.  The slopes of Nile

Modern travellers inform us, that the cataracts of the Nile are not precipitous, but that they merely pour down a rocky declivity, not much exceeding in steepness some of the rapids of America.

y.   The Rhodian mould

Alluding to the celebrated Colossus at Rhodes, a brazen statue of Apollo, 105 feet high.

z.  A beauteous belt

Meaning the federative principle, by which so many states and territories have been, and so many more may be added to the American union.

Niagara by Ada Elizabeth Fuller

ada
Niagara Rapids Seen From Goat Island, 1843
by George Russell Dartnell. Colour tint by Erna Jahnke
Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library

Dashing and boiling,
With furious pace,
Rush the wild waters
In their mad race.

Crowned with a glory
Of maple and oak,
Thy rocks tell the story
Of Nature’s yoke.

Flushed with the splendour
Of Autumn’s bright glow,
Silent, yet tender,
Sweet Gentians blow.

Oh mighty river,
With boiling and foam,
Dash on forever,
Knowing no home.

Bear my wild longing
Far out to sea,
Away from life’s thronging
To liberty.

Dashing and boiling,
With furious pace,
Seethe the wild waters
As on they race.


Source:  Ada Elizabeth Fuller.  Sunshine and Shadow: Poems by Ada Elizabeth Fuller.  Niagara Falls, Ont. Ada Elizabeth Fuller, 1919

The Gorge of Niagara by Ada Elizabeth Fuller

fuller
Gorge of the Niagara River
from Niagara Falls: America’s Scenic Wonders
Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library

Within the mighty Gorge I stand alone,
‡‡But little more than those small grains of sand
Which lie unnumbered, where the wave-worn shore
‡‡Stretched out to grasp them in its open hand.
But high above the river’s mighty voice,
‡‡A crystal throat brings in its note of charm—
The steady drip of water on a ledge
‡‡Of rocks, upheaved as by some mighty arm.

O’erhead the trees, with pray’rful murmurings,
‡‡Breathe soft to all the winds that flutter by—
The breezes that but came a moment hence
‡‡And went their airy journey with a sigh.
The river winds its fretful way along,
‡‡But deep within its plaintings, great and small,
I hear the mighty Maker’s mighty voice
‡‡In thousand thund’rous accents rise and fall.


Source:  Ada Elizabeth Fuller.  Sunshine and Shadow: Poems by Ada Elizabeth Fuller.  Niagara Falls, Ont. Ada Elizabeth Fuller, 1919

Sonnet to the River Niagara by B.F. Butler

butler
Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge
drawn from nature by Aug. Köllner, c1848
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

River of emerald, world-attractive stream !
‡‡Brightest of links in that eternal chain
‡‡Which binds the West to the far distant main ;
Did ever poet, in his wildest dream,
See, hear or fancy aught more soft, more fair,
‡‡More grand or terrible, than found in thee ?
‡‡First, gently moving, full, majestic, free,
Girdling broad islands with maternal care—
‡‡Then sweeping onward with increasing tide—
Next, madly plunging, in rough, headlong race—
‡‡And lo, the cataracts ! On either side,
“A hell of waters” which no pen can trace !
‡‡Thence, raging, whirling, till, “with sweet delay,”
‡‡On old Ontario’s breast, thou dy’st away.

Niagara Falls, August, 1841


Source: Southern Literary Messenger, vol 8, no. 3, March 1842


N.B. This is probably not the work of General B.F. “The Beast” Butler,  (1818-1893), who did write poetry. It is probably the work of “B.F. Butler, the poet of the old Democratic Review, [who] was born in Kinderhook, N.Y., in 1795 and died in France in 1858. He was attorney-general of the United States from 1831 to 1844, and acted as secretary of war for several months at a subsequent period of Gen. Jackson’s administration. He left the Democratic Party on passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, and supported Fremont in 1856. The present Gen. may have been “spoony” but he did not write poems for the Democratic Review. The Butler who did was a scholar and a poet, and a competent critic says of his contributions: ‘Some of his sonnets — the most artistic and difficult of all poetic work — are very polished and beautiful. ‘ ”  — Charles A. Pillsbury, Historic Magazine and Notes and Queries: A Monthly of History, Folk-lore, Mathematics, Literature, Art, Arcane Societies, Etc. (1882). United States: (n.p.).

Pact With the Devil by Tennessee Reed

 

reed
Self-Portrait
by Tennessee Reed

I walked through the woods
leaving my life in the town behind
I was afraid of the dark
and the tight space
afraid of the unknown

I walked with my friends
we were all African American
runaway slaves
women who wanted to be free
of Baltimore’s grasp
so we followed the call of our husbands
who had taken the journey
to Canada
before us

Everywhere was woods then
there was no escape from the trees
we had to pass
through the woods
called the Devil’s woods
as we headed North through Buffalo
to Canada

We believed in the Devil
a white slavemaster who lived in the trees
with big eyes and a laughing red face

We knew
the Devil followed us
through his woods
because he lighted our way with his gleaming red eyes
and cleared a trail with his arrow-shaped tail

The woods were endless
so we needed rest
and a way
to stay inside
because the cold had come
and we could travel
no further

We all agreed
with the Devil
to give up our souls
for a cabin of wooden logs
something that was part
of the Devil
for something that was part
of us

So we rested in the cabin
and warmed our forgotten souls
until a while later
when a fierce white man
on a wild white horse appeared
at our door

He dragged us to where the Devil
was standing like an ancient oak tree
waiting for us

He said we’d taken something
that was part of him—
that was his own wood—
and now he wanted it back
to feel complete

But we weren’t ready to give the wood back
because it was still winter
time and the cold
kept us
wanting to be
inside

He pointed to thundery clouds
at flashes of lightning
and the crack of thunder

The lightning flashed faces
of our husbands
their faces and beards
extending out as the North Wind
calling to us
this would be our fate, too

We ran back
into the log house
which disintegrated
turning us invisible
the moment we reentered
the Devil’s space

We all whirled up to the clouds
joining the North Wind
traveling Northwest
strangely, still
following the route
we had set to Canada

Our bodies flew up in the sky
but our souls remained on the ground
rooted forever
in the Devil’s woods

This story took place in Baltimore
during the 1860s
I can tell this tale
because I was once
one of these women
heading toward Buffalo
to escape through
Niagara Falls
to Canada


Source:  Tennessee Reed.   Airborne: Poems (1990-1996).  Juneau: Raven’s Bones Press, 1996.

Visit the website of Tennessee Reed

Visit the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center