Sons of Adam, watch!
Thundering clouds
over the roar of a thousand nights
smashing water
spilling mist on ancient rocks.
Tremors beget the moving form
created to carry men in God's direction
yet,
Sons of Adam, Listen!
Building the Tower of Babel
dumb in spirit
yet brilliant in designing
a god to themselves
In the midst of futile human endeavor
stands a mighty warrior,
an ancient ghost
"Onguirahara! Noss oossima!"
tall, courageous
believing in a power
greater than that
which was created
Sons of Adam, look!
On mighty rushing wings
He raises his spear
and with one fell swoop
brings down
the concrete rocks.
and the river rises up
to greet Him
moving faithfully forward
with the thundering power of the falls.
Peace is restored
and a tree planted by the river
reaches its roots out
and grows among men's ashes.
while the warrior
rests beneath its shade.
And is refreshed
in the cool depths
of Onguirahra!
Source: The author, July 8, 2001.
Bossy Simms: A Limerick by Andrew Porteus
Bossy Simms Taking the Waters at Niagara Falls, 1860s. Photo Courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library
A cow named Bossy took her drink
Daily, by the Falls at the brink
She never went over
She must have et clover
Of the four-leaved kind, or she'd sink!
Bossy Simms the cow was owned by the Superintendent of the Incline Railway. She frequently would wade out into the water less than 100 feet from the brink of the American Falls. The sight of Bossy was a curious attraction to many a visitor of the early 1860s.
Source: The author, 2019
See this limerick on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website
From this vantage point you can clearly see across the river to Prospect Point, at the left, the Niagara River going underneath the bridge to Goat Island, the American Falls, and the Bridal Veil, sometimes called Luna Falls. The land between the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls is Luna Island. To the right of the Bridal Veil Falls is Goat Island. Goat Island splits the Niagara River into the Canadian, or Horseshoe Falls from the two American Falls. The Prospect Point / Goat Island area became a state park at about the same time that the Canadian Niagara Parks Commission was formed in the 1880s. Renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, who had designed New York City's Central Park, was one of the chief developers of the state park at Niagara Falls.
Accessible
TripClips
Call before visiting