Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SLEEPING GIANT, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SLEEPING GIANT, by                    
First Line: O for some language from on high
Last Line: Still looking up to god.
Subject(s): Mountains; Yellowstone National Park; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


O for some language from on high
To catch the spirit of the sky
In which this monarch sleeps!
Recumbent on his rugged throne,
Where summits pierce the ether zone
He crowns the beetling steeps.

His white-capped sentries stand around,
As if by some unearthly sound
They petrified with fear.
His altar fires still smolder low,
His fountains leap with overflow
In royal gardens near.

Was he some prehistoric man,
Built on the ancient Aztec plan
To rule from shore to shore?
Or Thor, the noisy thunder god,
Put fast asleep by Morpheus' rod
And left for evermore?

In bold relief against the sky,
With cliff-made brow and heavy eye,
Upon his back he lies.
The spirit of the West, methinks,
Incarnate in this sleeping sphinx,
For æons did not rise.

With biggest dreams his soul is stirred,
He only waits his Master's word—
The clouds are flushed with dawn.
But half awakened to his power,
He gathers vigor for his hour,
To lead the nations on.

He dwells among the primal things,
And save the swish of eagle's wings,
And angry Lightning's tramp,
Dull Silence reigns about his head—
A hollow stillness draped with dread,
Where things eternal camp.

His couch is veiled with mountain mist,
His brow is by the morning kissed,
And his the last good-night.
Above the petty strifes of man,
Where Envy smites, and keeps who can,
He faces toward the light.

How like our race that cumbent form!
A target where the Titan storm
With fiery feet has trod!
And when it seemed that it was sleeping,
An age-long vigil it was keeping,
Still looking up to God.





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