Niagara Falls 

 1834 This is thy building, Architect Divine! 



Sigourney Who faw'fa tne p [\\ ars Q f tne Universe. 



Up, without noise, the mighty fabric rose. 



And to the clamour of the unresting gulf 



For ever smiting on its ear of rock 



With an eternal question, answereth nought. 



Man calls his vassals forth, with toil and pain ; 



Stone piled on stone, the pyramid ascends, 



Yet ere it reach its apex-point, he dies, 



Nor leaves a chiselled name upon his tomb. 



The vast cathedral grows, with deep-groined arch, 



And massy dome, slow reared, while race on race 



Fall like the ivy sere, that climbs its walls. 



The imperial palace towers, the triumph arch, 



And the tall fane that tells a hero's praise 



Uplift their crowns of fret-work haughtily. 



But, lo ! the Goth doth waste them, and his herds 



The Vandal pastures mid their fallen pride. 



But thou, from age to age, unchanged hast stood, 



Even like an altar to Jehovah's name, 



Silent, and stedfast, and immutable. 



Niagara and the storm-cloud! 



To the peal 

 Of their united thunder, rugged rocks 

 Amazed reverberate, through depths profound 

 Streams the red lightning, while the loftiest trees 

 Bow, and are troubled. Shuddering earth doth hide 

 In midnight's veil ; and even the ethereal mind, 

 Which hath the seed of immortality 

 Within itself, — not undismayed, beholds 

 This fearful tumult of the elements. 

 Old Ocean meets the tempest and is wroth, 

 And in his wrath destroys. The wrecking ship, 

 The sea-boy stricken from the quaking mast, 

 The burning tear wrung forth from many a home, 

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