NIAGARA.
Flow on, for ever, in thy glorious robe
Of terror and of beauty.—Yea, flow on,—
Unfathom'd and resistless. God hath set
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud
Mantled around thy feet. And He doth give
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him
Eternally,—bidding the lip of man
Keep silence, and upon thine altar pour
Incense of awe-struck praise.
Earth fears to lift
The insect-trump that tells her trifling joys,
And fleeting triumphs, 'mid the peal sublime
Of thy tremendous hymn. Proud Ocean shrinks
Back from thy brotherhood, and all his waves
Retire abash'd. For he hath need to sleep
Sometimes, like a spent labourer, calling home
His boisterous billows, from their vexing play,
To a long, dreary calm: but thy strong tide
Faints not, nor e'er, with failing heart, forgets
Its everlasting lesson,—night nor day.
The morning stars, that hail'd creation's birth,
