Poetry of and about Niagara Falls & the Niagara River – the waterfalls, the city, the history, the stunters, and everything else Niagara
Let no one think ‘t is waste of time
To view this waste of waters —
The scene is all alike sublime
To Poets and “Bogtrotters.”
Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848
This link takes you to the scanned version of the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust
See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡Almighty God!
The waters sing to Thee in awful praise;
Their mighty voice, in bursting thunder says.
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡“Believe in God!”
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡Eternal God!
The sun was dark ― earth paled at its eclipse―
A still awe said, as if from angel’s lips:
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡“Believe in God!”
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡“Believe in God!”
Myriads of worlds, in their eternal speed,
Hymn to their spheres the soul-exalting creed ―
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡“Believe in God!”
Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848
This link takes you to the scanned version of the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust
See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.
Niagara ! to thee
‡‡‡‡My spectacles I turn !
I see the waters boil,
‡‡‡‡As if all . . . did burn,
And Satan’s imps, with ardour hot,
Were thrusting wood beneath the pot.
‡‡‡‡O what a deaf’ning noise
Thy tortur’d waters make !
‡‡‡‡The thunders of thy voice
Kept me all night awake :
I could but hear the lumbering sound,
When all were sunk in sleep profound.
‡‡‡‡And then what clouds of spray
Bedim my weaken’d sight ;
‡‡‡‡And then, in light of day,
Bring rainbows to my sight :
Well might poor Snip thus make his note —
“Mem — What a place to spunge a coat !”
‡‡‡‡And then, O what a waste
Of water-power is here !
‡‡‡‡‘Twould move ten thousand water-wheels,
And run them thro’ the year !
Well might the Yankee say — “be still —
Oh what a place to build a mill.”
Source: Dr. Thomas Rolph. A Brief Account, Together With Observations, Made During a Visit in the West Indies, and a Tour Through the United States of America, in Parts of the Years 1832-3; Together With a Statistical Account of Upper Canada. Dundas, U.C. : G. Heyworth Hackstaff, Printer, 1836.
Rolph mentions this poem was written in the Table Rock Album; it is not published in Thomas & Lathrop’s excerpts from the Table Rock Album. Rolph would have been looking at the original. See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Albums
The waters of Niagara,
‘Tis wondrous how they go,
A tumbling from the rock above,
Down to the rocks below.
They’ve run this way, this many a day,
And now to shift the scene,
I would suggest, just for a change,
To have them run up stream.
Source: Dr. Thomas Rolph. A Brief Account, Together With Observations, Made During a Visit in the West Indies, and a Tour Through the United States of America, in Parts of the Years 1832-3; Together With a Statistical Account of Upper Canada. Dundas, U.C. : G. Heyworth Hackstaff, Printer, 1836.
Rolph mentions this poem was written in the Table Rock Album; it is not published in Thomas & Lathrop’s excerpts from the Table Rock Album. Rolph would have been looking at the original. See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Albums
N ature’s great masterpiece ! how feeble man
I n vain essays of thee and thine to tell —
A ll wondrous as thou art — a mighty plan —
G reat, glorious, grand and indescribable !
A nd fain would measure thee with pigmy span !
“R efrain,” each object cries — “Lay down thy rod,
A nd look thro’ Nature, up to Nature’s God.
August 18, 1834
Source: Dr. Thomas Rolph. A Brief Account, Together With Observations, Made During a Visit in the West Indies, and a Tour Through the United States of America, in Parts of the Years 1832-3; Together With a Statistical Account of Upper Canada. Dundas, U.C. : G. Heyworth Hackstaff, Printer, 1836.
Rolph mentions this acrostic poem was written in the Table Rock Album; it is not published in Thomas & Lathrop’s excerpts from the Table Rock Album. Rolph would have been looking at the original. See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Albums