"Deep calleth unto deep,
At the noise of thy water-spouts."
ANCIENT OF FLOODS! twin-born with Time! most dread!
In spirit overwhelmed and tremulous,
In hushed amaze and wildering reveries lost,
Here do I bow before thine august front!
Thou universal type of human thought!
All things of earth and heaven, of man and God,
By thee are symbolized and throng my heart,
In images begotten by thy power!
Like some huge form of life, with mind endowed,
Thou liftest up thy voice in high discourse!
Thou art the strength of myriad tides compressed,
The spot beneath God's throne whereon He plants
The right foot of His power, and speaks to earth,
The messenger and guardian of his realm,
The voice of streams, of Time, of Truth, of Love,
Bewailing joys of men and nations lost!
Enthroned 'mid refuge-isles, unswayed by man,
Alone by ice-chains bound, yet quickly loosed,
Chanting a free hymn with enfranchised streams,
Frowning in cliffs and caves impregned with death,
And rushing madly to the whirlpool's depths,
Thou hast of old still lived and summoned life!
The morn and eve, the noonday and the night,
Make thee their shrine, where even man has paid
His homage and revealed his secret heart.
A witness of redeeming love art thou,
A voice at sunrise, to the gifted soul
Of high encouragement, to God of praise
And supplication, and to earth of hope.
What poets image or musicians hymn,
In thine own page and notes are read and heard.
Upon thy rock-built steep and 'neath thy tide,
As in a temple find we proof of God;
And when man's farewell sounds, thy song shall be
Time's requiem and thine own farewell to life!
Thus, matchless Fall! with life so multiform,
my initial strain-the vestibule
Of thought upbuilded-open to the view
Of hearts now ushered in thy courts, its scenes, Foreshadowing themes th' augmented verse unfolds.
O Shape majestic! whose untrammelled arms
Are ever battling foes of rocky strength,
With what untiring and victorious tread,
Dost thou march on from rugged height to depth!
Thou great Behemoth! sweltering in the sun,
Leaping perpetual down the dread abyss,
And wrestling frantic with the rocks below!
I see thee like a huge leviathan,
Swelling, as if with conscious power, thy crest,
Rolling in boiling billows, that to thee
Are but the infant playthings of an hour,
And spouting all along the maddened deep,
Ten thousand rivulets of spray and foam!
How sullen comes thy roar to earth's pained ear!
How to her view thy misty breathings rise!
Thou Crater of the Lakes, that inland spread,
Seem like a vast volcano torn apart,
By thee disgorging all its fireless streams;
How oft my heart has beat its prison ribs,
With strong pulsations to behold thy front!
Ah! do I dream of thee? No! there thou art,
In all thy native grandeur towering still,
With all thy primal vigor pouring out
Thy chainless tide, that ever loudly boasts
And tosses up, in pride, its head of spray,
Scorning decay with its exhaustless fonts,
Like some rich feudal lord among his serfs,
Holdingt neir spirits 'neath an iron rule,
Yet giving them his treasured largesses,
With liberal hand and aspect dominant.
O Spirit of the Flood! embodied here,
Concentering all thy powers in one vast stride,
And brooding o'er the surface of this deep,
As on the waters moved th' Invisible
Of old, when first Creation breathed in Time ;
With soul all worshipful, I honor thee!
Above thy brow or on the rock below,
Or in thy temple underneath thy roof,
Hid by thy veil I stand in rapture hushed;
I catch thy spray, I see thy rainbow smile,
The eddying foam, the imprint of thy feet-
O Vision awful! how my spirit bows
Here at thy shrine, as at th' Almighty's bar!
How like the Prophet awed, who erst beheld
Jehovah's lofty throne and endless train
Filling the Temple infinite, and saw
The seraphims with covered face and feet,
And heard them cry-" Thrice holy thou, O Lord!” I prostrate now my form, and in thy sight
Exclaim-" Unclean, unclean, O man undone !” 2 How reverently do I uncover here,
My reeling brow, and put my sandals off,
As though before the oracle of God,
And in His presence-chamber now I stand!
Dazzled I bend, for in the sunlight's glare,
Glancing from myriad mirrors on thy wall,
I view th' Eternal o'er His mercy-seat,
In the Shechinah of His glory robed!
With thoughts unutterable, yet too full
To live within my narrow-circled heart,
I view thy changeless arch reflecting Heaven's;
I hear thine anthem pealing out to earth,
The rich concordance of unnumbered streams!
With its pent breath full swells my aching breast!
There! forth it rushes now lest these weak chords
Should break in agony and close the scene!
Hear! O thou mighty Anakim of tides
Among the liquid nations! hear my shout,
E'en though its sound a dying tone may seem
Amid the surge-like echoes of thy voice
Booming for ever o'er the deep of Time!
All hail! immortal Cataract, all hail!
Emblem of life to man, thou dost uprise
Before his view to bless with thoughts of love!
O Teacher of his soul! still thou dost speak
With heavenward music to his ear of hope!
Knight-errant of the rivers! going forth
On foaming steed, whose nostrils breathe out mist,
To single combat with an arm unmatched,
With prowess high and panoply of might!
How vigorously, yet readily dost thou
Wield thy strong weapons though of massive weight! Swift rush thy spear-like streams, that glance in light, With quick precision to the channel's heart;
With what a demon-grasp dost thou take hold
On all things near in thy o'ermastering strength!
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