Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

Southern States: Tallulah (Terrora), the River, Ga.

The River Tallulah

By William J. Grayson (1788–1863)

(From Chicora)

BEYOND Tallulah’s giant den,

A mountain rent by Nature’s throes,

Where, roaring down the rocky glen,

The stormy torrent falls or flows;

Its waters now a quiet stream,

Now plunging from the giddy steep,

Down rapids now they foam and gleam,

In gloomy pools unfathomed sleep;

From the rent rock you gaze below,

The heart with awe and terror stirred,

You hardly see the torrent flow,

Its fearful voice is faintly heard;

Half down, the hovering crow appears

A moving speck; from rifted beams

Of granite grown, the pine, that rears

Its towering trunk, a sapling seems.

Turn from the din; a calmer scene,

More soft and still, invites your sight;

Beneath your feet, a sea of green

Fills the charmed heart with new delight;

Down from the mountain top you gaze;

Far, deep below, the verdant maze

Of forest still unbroken lies;

And farther yet, a line of blue

Catches at last the gazer’s view,

The ocean seems to meet his eyes;

With ecstasy beyond control

He sees, while Fancy’s magic power

With witching influence rules the hour,

The surges break, the billows roll.

*****