LINES,

WRITTEN AT THE COHOS, OR FALLS OF
THE MOHAWK RIVER.*

GIA ERA IN LOCO OVE S'UDIA 'L RIMBOMBO

DELL' ACQUA.

Dante.

FROM rise of morn till set of sun
I've seen the mighty Mohawk run,
And as I mark'd the woods of pine
Along his mirror darkly shine,
Like tall and gloomy forms that pass
Before the wizzard's midnight glass;
And as I view'd the hurrying pace
With which he ran his turbid race,
Rushing, alike untir'd and wild

Through shades that frown'd and flowers that smil'd,

*There is a dreary and savage character in the country immediately above these Falls. which is much more in harmony with the wildness of such a scene than the cultivated lands in the neighbourhood of Niagara. See the drawing of thera in Mr. Weld's book According to him, the perpendicular height of the Cobos Falls is fifty feet; but the Marquis de Chastellux makes it seventy-six

The fine rainbow, which is continually forming and dissolving as the spray rises into the light of the sun, is perhaps the most interesting beauty which these wonderful cataracts exhibit.

Flying by every green recess
That woo'd him to its calm caress,

Yet, sometimes turning with the wind,
As if to leave one look behind!

Oh! I have thought, and thinking sigh'd-
How like to thee, thou restless tide!
May be the lot, the life of him,
Who roams along thy water's brim !
Through what alternate shades of woe,
And flowers of joy my path may go!
How many an humble still retreat
May rise to court my weary feet,
While still pursuing, still unblest,
I wander on, nor dare to rest!
But urgent as the doom that calls
Thy water to its destin'd falls,
I see the world's bewildering force
Hurry my heart's devoted course
From lapse to lapse, till life be done,
And the last current cease to run!
Oh, may my falls be bright as thine!
May Heaven's forgiving rainbow shine
Upon the mist that circles me,
As soft, as now it hangs o'er thee!

CLORIS AND FANNY.

CLORIS! if I were Persia's king,
I'd make my graceful queen of thee:
While FANNY, wild and artless thing,
Should but thy humble handmaid be.

There is but one objection in it-
That, verily, I'm much afraid
I should, in some unlucky minute,
Forsake the mistress for the maid!

TO MISS

WITH Woman's form and woman's tricks So much of man you seem to mix,

I

One knows not where to take you ;
iftis not too far,

pray you,

Go, ask of Nature which you are,

Or what she meant to make you.

Yet stay you need not take the pains
With neither beauty, youth, nor brains
For man or maid's desiring;
Pert as females, fool as male,

As boy too green, as girl too stale-
The thing's not worth inquiring!

ΤΟ

ON HER ASKING ME TO ADDRESS A POEM TO HER.

POLLO.

SINE VENERE FRIGET APOLLO.

Egid. Menagius.

How can I sing of fragrant sighs
I ne'er have felt from thee !
How can I sing of smiling eyes,
That ne'er have smil'd on me?

The heart, 'tis true, may fancy much
But, oh! 'tis cold and seeming-
One moment's real, rapturous touch
Is worth an age of dreaming!

Think'st thou, when JULIA's lip and breast

Inspir'd my youthful tongue,

I coldly spoke of lips unprest,

Nor felt the heaven I sung?

No, no, the spell, that warm'd so long.

Was still my JULIA's kiss,

And still the girl was paid, in song,

What she had giv'n in bliss!..

Then beam one burning smile on me,
And I will sing those eyes;
Let me but feel a breath from thee,
And I will praise thy sighs.

That rosy mouth alone can bring
What makes the bard divine-
Oh, Lady! how my lip would sing,
If once 'twere prest to thine!

SONG

OF THE EVIL SPIRIT OF THE WOODS.*

QUA VIA DIFFICILIS, QUAQUE EST VIA NULLA... Ovid. Metam. Lib. iii. v. 227.

Now the vapour hot and damp,
Shed by day's expiring lamp,
Through the misty ether spreads
Every ill the white man dreads;
Fiery fever's thirstly thrill,
Fitful ague's shivering chill!

*The idea of this poem occurred to me in passing through the very dreary wilderness between Batavia, a new settlement in the midst of the woods, and the little village of Buffalo upon Lake Erie. This is the most fatiguing part of the route, in travelling through the Genesee country to Niagara.