Music — Poetry — Fiction 



dawn, which rose in fresh and windless beauty over the town 1909 

 opposite and the white splendour of the Falls. The American w 

 Fall was still largely in shadow ; but the light struck on the fresh 

 green of Goat Island and leaped in tongues of fire along the edge 

 of the Horseshoe, turning the rapids above it to flame and sending 

 shafts into the vast tower of spray that holds the centre of the 

 curve. Nature was all youth, glitter and delight; summer was 

 rushing on the gorge ; the mingling of wood and water was at its 

 richest and noblest. 



1910 



Bates, Katharine Lee. The song of Niagara. (Can. mag., May, 1910 



1910. 35:58.) Bates 



An alien song. Though day by day I listen, 

 No syllable of that majestic chant 

 May my adoring passion comprehend. 

 With many a lucent evanescent hue 

 The plunging torrents glisten. 

 Far-seen, colossal plumes of spray ascend, 

 Their dazzling white shot through and through 

 With quivering rainbows, until every plant, 

 Each hoar, blue-berried cedar loved of bird, 

 Each fine fern tracery, the cold mists christen 

 To spirit grace. The frosted branches bend 

 With sparkle of such jewels as transcend 

 All fantasy of elfin-craft. Yet who 

 Interpreteth the great enchantment's word? 



Ye primal Sibyls, if eyes hardly bear 

 The glory of your opalescent robes, 

 Your diamond aureoles and veils impearled, 

 May the stunned ear divine 

 Your awful oracle? August, yet wild, 

 Do your tremendous paeans still prolong 

 Creation's old, unhumanised delight, 

 The laughter of the Titans? Were ye there 

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