The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-07-04
HEREDIA'S ODE TO NIAGARA.

lion OF tne great CATARACT, many OF Them Oh con
siderable power and beauty. / was not aware,
however, until quite recently, that one of the
best of these was in Spanish, and was the work
Of a Cuban poet named Heredia. who stands at the
head of the numerous writer's of lyric verse upon
that island. Heredia was born at Santiago de
Cuba, in 1903, and educated first in the Univer-
sisy of Santo Domingo, and afterwar1 in that Of
Havana. He gained great distinction i'll the
legal profession, and the time for his literary
work was snatched from the busy occupation OF
an active and restless life He died at the age
of thirty FIVE, but left behind him high reputa-
ton both as poet and an historian. His ode to
Niagara is familiar to every Cuban. / have
sought to reproduce it as closely as the genius OF
very different language will permit.
RICHMOND, July 2. 1886. w. d. FoULKE.
"Ctive me my Tyre. Give it to me who feel
The fire of inspiration stir within
My trembling soul y what weary time
Has passed in utter gloom since my sad brow
Cleaned with its light! Niagara, mighty waved
Thy glorious face alone could give me back
That godlike gift which, in hour of rage,
The pitiless hand of grief had torn away!
Prodigious torrent Hush in solemn calm
Thy terrible thunder, q little while dispel
The gloomy mists that circle UP around thee,
And let me gaze on thy majestic face.
am worthy to behold thee. Evermore
Have despised all base and common things,
And loved the awful and sublime alone
The headlong fury of the hurricane;
The thunderbolt bursting above my head
On Oceans's waves, dashed by the swift North wind
Contenfng with my bark and seen its depths
Yawning beneath my feet and loved its rage
And loved the danger; but its violent wrath
Left never in my soul such lasting trace
As thy tremendous image. Thou dost flow
Calm and majestic. and then suddenly
Thy current broken uron mighty rocks
Thou dost leap on in fury, dashed along
Like the blind power of destiny. What man
Can paint the frightful face of the roaring rocks
That lie beneath thy waters? Almy soul
Is lost in wondering visions while gaze
Upon thy fervid stream, which my strained eye
In vain would follow past the gloomy brink
OF the tremendous precipice Then come
thousand waves as swift passing thought
And dash III rage together A thousand mora
thousand more come on and amid foam,
And smoke. and laundering din all disappear.
They come they leap. The dread abyss devours
The headlong torrents hurled into its depths
thousand rainbows sparkle, and the woods.
Deaf with the sound, give back the mighty voice!
Hurled on the rocks with tremendous blow
The waters rent asunder, leap high
And in cloud of misty vapors, fill
The chasIfwith whirwinds, mount then wbirl again
Then rise in a vast pyramid to heaven
What vainly seeks in thee my longing gaze
With restless efforta Why do not behold
BY thy resounding cayerns, my own palms,
Az, the delightful palms that on the plains
Of my bright home, born Of the smiling sun,
Grow softly rocked by breath of Oceans breeze,
Beneath cloudless heaven!
Niagara,
Foreye fatal to thy destiny.
The thought comes despite me that NO crown
Belts thy majesty save the rude pine.
The palm. the myrtle and the delicate rose
Awake soft pleasure and delightful
In sensuous gardens. Fate has kept for thee
A worthier and sublimer thing. Free souls.
Strong brave and generous come, look and wo udsr-
And scornng the delights of sense alone
Their voices lift with thine in praise to God!
God God of Truth! / haye sesa in o!aer climes
Living philosophers who dared to search
Into Thy deepest mysteries. insult
Thy name, and drag their fellow-creatures down
The dark abs cs = st sin: Therefore my, soul
Hath sought Thee everinore n solitude
Aud rSw topens wholly to Thee feels
Thy hand in this sublime immensely,
And from that mighty food Thy voice comes down
In its eternal thunders, to my breast.
Wonderful torrent! How the sight transports
And fills my mind with terror and amaze.
Where is thy source? Whose is the hand that fills
Through countless ages thy unfailing springs9
What power commands the sea when it gathers in
Thy waters to withhold them from the land9
The Lord God stretched forth His omnipotent hand
And covered thy bright face with stormy clouds!
He gave His voice into thy headlong flood
And with His bow adorned thy terrible brow!
He saw thy waters, which unweared run
AS the great torrent of the centuries
Rolls to eternity. The blooming days
OF man thus fly away Aw Ike to grief
mourn my misspent youth, my withered face.
The bitter pain within seams my brow
In burrows deep with care. Never before
Ny lonely. loveless and forlorn estate
Thus keenly have felt. How could soul
Stormy and passionate like mine. be blest
Without the light of love! 0 that some fair one
Might love me worthily and on the edge
OF this dark, stormy gulf stand at my side
Be with me in my lonely wanderngs
Of thought and footstep would see her face
Covered with gentle pallor, farer yet
In it's sweet terror and would smile again
And hold her in my loving arms. What dreams
OF virtuous joy! But exiled, loved by none,
see before me only pain and GRIEF
Mighty Niagara! Hear my final word.
In few years the cold grave will devour
Thy feeble singer. 0 that my song might last
Immortal like thy glory! May there be
Some pious traveller who, beholdng thee,
Shall utter to my memorya sigh
While |, when the sun sinks in the bright West,
Will fly with JOY where my Creator calls
And listening to these echoes of my fame,
Lift high above the clouds radiant brow.