L.
And each new cloud a thing of life appears,
And each leaps forth as though its wild intent
Were solely to out-distance its compeers,
And rise more high than they. And each seems bent
On reaching to a height unreached before,
And tells its purpose in a muffled roar.
LI.
While, far below, a rocky destiny
Awaits the mighty waters. Loud resounds
The roaring of their falling constantly,
While from the rocks the foaming mass rebounds;
And upward rising, far above the height,
A mist half hides the waters from my sight.
The evening sun illumes the rising spray,
And forms a bow in beauty unsurpassed.
Above the Falls it bends its glist'ning ray,
While in the deep its radiance is cast.
And, as the mist or fades or thickens, so
It breaks or forms again the changing bow.
LIII.
Above the Falls the rushing rapids rage,
In awesome grandeur only less than they.
Thus have they madly tossed from age to age,
And thus have galloped on their heedless way.
In ceaseless ferment, and in constant change,
Wide o'er their rocky area they range.
LIV.
Now foaming whitely, now in rippling waves
Unbroken, haste they onward to their fate;
Each speeding hurriedly as though it craves
An early death. So reckless is the rate
Which some pursue, that, with a sudden shock,
They burst in foam-clouds on a hidden rock.