Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE COLORADO CANYON, by GEORGIANA HODGKINS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COLORADO CANYON, by                    
First Line: Blue mists of morning filled it to the brim
Last Line: Its devious course, unheard, and mocked at man.
Subject(s): Canyons


Blue mists of morning filled it to the brim,
Smooth as the unruffled depths of mountain lake;
Even as we watched, the day began to break,
And the sun stood at the horizon's rim.
His touch unlocked the cells where night had kept
Captive the heralds of the coming day;
And from that unplumbed sea, where silence slept,
All silently he called the mists away.
Then, as a curtain rises on a stage
New set for scenes of splendor and of awe,
So rose those mists, and we with wonder saw
Such miracles as gods alone presage;
For, from those depths there climbed to meet the eye
A world unguessed builded by wizardry.

They carved in thunder, did those mighty ones,
Who left their mark on these eternal walls;
Towers and temples, palaces and halls,
Rise from this crypt to bask in alien suns;
Here buried ages sketched their endless plan;
The art of ancient cults was garnered here;
Egypt and Babylonia appear,
And shapes conceived before the birth of man.
We stood upon the chasm's fearful rim
And sought the answer to the "how?" and "why?"
What impulse spurred these craftsmen? Whose the eye
That saw with God? Who raised these stones to Him?
A mile below, a tiny streamlet ran
Its devious course, unheard, and mocked at man.





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