This text comes from Songs of French Canada, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.
Benumbed with the shock of its rush in our ears,
Its groans and its moans, its sighs and its tears,
We behold as it seems, while night's flag is unfurled,
Down the vastness of space gliding swiftly a world.
But all tremblingly there, to our opening eyes,
Hangs o'er that abyss a prismatic surprise
Which, with its great scarf, in its dazzling folds,
The soul of the precipice lovingly holds.
Unceasing that vapour o'er yon cavern revolves,
And as slowly ascends as it slowly dissolves,
Drawing with it, astonished or pensive, the gaze—
Till it soars far above the opaqueness of haze—
Towards that ether transparent, almost without tinge,
Whence the curtain of Peace drops its gold-spangled fringe.
But there's nothing to stay that wild cataract's rush;
For the sea has its rest and the thunder its hush,
E'en the volcanic peak has its moments of peace;
Niagara's mad sweepings alone never cease,
For aye does it roll, ever boil, ever leap,
Unfathomed, unchecked, crowding down its own steep;
While its waters reflect the blue dome of the sky,
Inexhaustible tread like unto the Most High.
That Colossus possesses the thunder-god's lip,
To address Him whose Hand holds the earth in its grip—
And those vapours of white, that all 'round interblend,
Like incense in wreaths to Jehovah ascend.
Irresistible giant, unapproachable crest,
Its turbulent torrent none ever shall breast;
Man dreads it, e'en the birds fly off in affright,
Yet that monstrous gulf has fecundity's might—
It gives life to the flowers, which, to then fertilise,
With a sprinkling of dew it seems to baptize.
It will fall for all time, it will fall without truce,
Till the hour when man ceases to know human love,
When proclaiming the end, from the regions above,
An Angel comes down to our poor trembling sphere;
In his flight, he'll behold Niagara rear
High over its rock, like some altar aglow,
The ineffable hues of earth's final rainbow.