At Niagara

Here, where great thoughts the spirit must oppress,
And man should feel his utter nothingness,
Awed by the voice that thunders from thy flood,
Sublimest cataract! to tell of God,
Hushing our passions to repose, until
Adoring silence all the soul doth fill, —
Even here, sad marvel! man can still be mean,
And with the ribald oath, the jest obscene,
Hate's scowl, and Envy's leer, and Pride's grimace,
Profane thy sanctities, O awful Place !

Yet wherefore wonder? If, where Ocean pours 
His solemn anthem to the listening shores; 
Where mountains, cloud-crowned, climb to heaven and throw 
An earthly twilight over vales below; 
When the strong sun floods all the day with light; 
Or, in her queenly pomp, the holy Night 
Looks down serene, with myriad starry eyes, 
Or, clothed with storms shakes terror from the skies, — 
If, in such presence, and at such an hour
Filled with revealings of Almighty power, 
Man can be vile, the slave of low desires, 
Consuming life in Passion's hell-lit fires, 
And, all-forgetful of the soul's high birth, 
Starve, and debase, and chain it to the earth, 
Hope not that here, where from the precipice 
Niagara plunges to the dread abyss, 
With thunder-anthem upward and afar 
Sent, till the firm hills tremble to the jar, 
While o'er the wild turmoil the vapory air 
Gleams glorious with the rainbow quivering there, 
Hope not that here, his heart will reverent see, 
In the dread scene, God's might and majesty: 
Still mean and groveling, Passion's willing thrall,
His sottish sense dims and belittles all.

Not thus, O God ! not thus would I behold
This vision of Thy glories manifold!
I would be better, nobler, having stood
Thus face to face with thy majestic flood.
I would be purer, holier from to-day,
That I have known the baptism of its spray!
And bear away, transfusing soul and sense,
Its awful beauty and magnificence;
And hear, at morn and night, on land and sea,
Its everlasting voice proclaiming Thee,
Till all my being shall become divine,
And all my thoughts shall brightly mirror Thine.