(1803-1839)

— Niágara —

Cuban poet and patriot who sang to Niagara and, as José Martí said, awakened "an ever-burning passion for freedom" in the hearts of all Cubans.

                              Niagara
                           (fragments)

Thou flowest, on in quiet, til thy waves
grow broken midst the rocks; thy current then
shoots onward like the irresistible course
of destiny. Ah, terrible the rage,—
the hoarse and rapid whirlpools there! My brain
grows wild, my senses wander, as I gaze
upon the hurrying waters, and my sight,
vainly would follow, as towards the verge
sweeps the wide torrent. Waves innumerable
meet there and madden,—waves innumerable
urge on and overtake the waves before,
and disappear in thunder and foam.

They reach, they leap the barrier,— the abyss
swallows insatiable the sinking waves.
A thousand rainbows arch them, and woods
are deafened with the roar.

What seeks my restless eve? Why are we not there,
about the jaws of this abyss, the palms,—
ah, the delicious palms,— — that on the plains
of my own native Cuba spring and spread
their thickly foliaged summits to the sun,
and, in the breathings of the ocean air
wave soft beneath the heaven's unspotted blue?

Hear, dread Niagara, my latest voice!
Yet a few years and the cold earth shall close
over the bones of him who sings thee now
thus feelings would that this my humble verse,
might be like thee, immortal?! Meanwhile,
cheerfully passing to the appointed rest,
might raise my radiant forehead in the clouds
to listen to the echoes of my fame.

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