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Friday, January 16, 2015

Poetry Friday: Niagara Fell (March 1848)

I wrote this poem five years ago.

George Van Every, the first son of my second great grandparents, Samuel and Abigail (Stuart) Van Every, was born eight months after the incident, in Dumfries, Brant County, Ontario - about 125 km from Niagara Falls.

Niagara Fell
©2010 John C Newmark

In 1848, on a day in March
Huge chunks of ice
Pierced Niagara’s head.
Downstream, the falls dried up.

Residents looked down -
The mighty thunder, silenced -
Then up to the sky, fearful.
News traveled slowly.

The churches were filled
as the fish died.
Tourists came from far
To walk across the bed.

When the ice dam cleared
Some must have felt foolish,
While others just waited
for their god’s next missive.

More about Niagara's fall - March 29-30, 1848

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