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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SAN FRANCISCO: 2 (OCTOBER, 1909), by JOHN VANCE CHENEY Poet's Biography
First Line: Shadows and vanities, blind to the light
Last Line: Proved empress of the western garden, now.
Subject(s): San Francisco
First Line: Shadows and vanities, blind to the light
Last Line: Proved empress of the western garden, now.
Subject(s): San Francisco
Shadows and vanities, blind to the light,
Too wise to know, too proud to understand;
Mortals, of brittle trust and thickened sight,
Undone by the well-doing of my hand,
Can ye not see I did it for her sake,
High as her place was, willed to set her higher?
Under her feet the beams of earth must shake,
Suck there the hungry gurge of wind and fire.
Mine own had need of this, she of my bone,
Whose blood I pulsed, and her safe beauty charmed;
The world must know that she, and she alone,
Could stand, hell-breath full in her face, unharmed.
Behold her risen, the jewels on her brow,
Proved Empress of the Western Garden, now.
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