Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Niagara Falls
By Lord Morpeth (1802–1864)T
Thou mayest not to the fancy’s sense recall.
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning’s leap,
The stirring of the chambers of the deep;
Earth’s emerald green, and many tinted dyes.
The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies;
The tread of armies thickening as they come,
The boom of cannon and the beat of drum;
The brow of beauty and the form of grace,
The passion and the prowess of our race;
The song of Homer in its loftiest hour,
The unresisted sweep of human power;
Britannia’s trident on the azure sea,
America’s young shout of Liberty!
Oh! may the waves which madden in thy deep
There spend their rage nor climb the encircling steep;
And till the conflict of thy surges cease
The nations on thy banks repose in peace.