Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
The Falls
By S. A. CrittendenT
Where mountain breezes freely sweep,
To greet the hurrying flood,
That breaks in many a foamy line,
Breaks, but to laughingly combine
In sweet, coquettish mood.
With scenes of beauty spread before,
Touched by the master’s hand,—
The glancing light, the sparkling dew,
The living green, the upper blue,
The mountains old and grand.
Stayed not, our eager souls to greet,
But ever hastened on.
They sparkled in the morning light
One moment, then were lost to sight,
Gone! ah, forever gone!
And fitful lights may sometimes gleam
Where shadows soon must be;
Stern rocks will break the silent flow,
And fret the waters as they go
To that eternal sea.