Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

New England: Saco, the River, N. H. and Me.

The Falls of the Saco

By John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

(From Mogg Megone)

WHO stands on that cliff, like a figure of stone,

Unmoving and tall in the light of the sky,

Where the spray of the cataract sparkles on high,

Lonely and sternly, save Mogg Megone?

Close to the verge of the rock is he,

While beneath him the Saco its work is doing,

Hurrying down to its grave, the sea,

And slow through the rock its pathway hewing!

Far down, through the mist of the falling river,

Which rises up like an incense ever,

The splintered points of the crags are seen,

With water howling and vexed between,

While the scooping whirl of the pool beneath

Seems an open throat, with its granite teeth!