AT NIAGARA FALLS

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Imagine waking to the roar of Niagara Falls, but hearing a robin’s sweet carol magically drown out the din. This work suggests that, though we are surrounded by the “tumult of a noisy world,” it can be overcome by “a song of love and trust.”

LYRICS

In the springtime at Niagara
as a sabbath morning broke,
full of glory, peace and beauty,
from his dreams the sleeper woke.

All was quiet, save the thunder,
that forever there prevails;
that throughout the gathering ages,
never pauses, never fails.

But the thunder of the torrent
of a sudden died away.
just as if a spell of silence
on the rampant waters lay.

For a robin at the casement
trilled its carol sweet and strong,
and the roar was heard no longer,
it was vanquished by a song!

On thine ear the roar and tumult
of a noisy world world must fall,
but a little song of love and trust,
love and trust,
such a song can overcome it all.

Anson G. Chester – 1904