Niagara.

I STOOD within a vision’s spell;
I saw, I heard. The liquid thunder
Went pouring to its foaming hell,
And it fell,
Ever, ever fell
Into the invisible abyss that opened under.

I stood upon a speck of ground;
Before me fell a stormy ocean.
I was like a captive bound;
And around
A universe of sound
Troubled the heavens with ever-quivering motion.

Down, down for ever,—down, down for ever,
Something falling, falling, falling,
Up, up for ever—up, up for ever,
Resting never,
Boiling up for ever,
Steam-clouds shot up with thunder-bursts appalling.

A tone that since the birth of man,
Was never for a moment broken,
A word that since the world began,
And waters ran
Hath spoken still to man,—
Of God and of Eternity hath spoken.

Foam-clouds there for ever rise
With a restless roar o’erboiling—
Rainbows stooping from the skies
Charm the eyes,
Beautiful they rise,
Cheering the cataracts to their mighty toiling.

And in that vision as it passed,
Was gathered terror, beauty, power
And still when all has fled, too fast,
And I at last
Dream of the dreamy past,
My heart is full when lingering on that hour.