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Union Falls

by Leonard M Hawkes

My last, no doubt, of the many,
And you drove us out that day
With pelting rain, hail, and vicious lightning—
Flash and crash simultaneous--
Thunder shaking both within and without--
Menacing red bolts felt and smelled--
Compelling urgent shelter even
On the cold wet ground; and we left
Your grandeur without reluctance, thinking
Only of soggy up-hill miles through dripping trees.

But the memory is sweet: that two hundred fifty foot
Fall from the pointed precipice of merger,
The white veil of water spreading wide below,
Rising mist testifying a mile before the witness,
Its roar, a god's voice even in an untuned ear,
And that burden of beauty
Settling on the soul like a sermon.
No, I don’t know how many times,
Nor how many comrades,
But a vision and a sylvan song of the eternal.

03/28/2017

Author's Note: My last of many trips in to the falls.

Posted on 03/28/2017
Copyright © 2024 Leonard M Hawkes

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Rob Littler on 04/06/17 at 05:20 AM

I want the roar to compress my chest, taking my breath even. It sort of does but I cough it away.

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