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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNETS FOR NEW YORK CITY: 3 by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH

First Line: SHAME ON THEE, O MANHATTAN, WHOM I LOVE!
Last Line: I FELT THE BURNING GARMENTS OF THY SHAME.
Subject(s): NEW YORK CITY; MANHATTAN; NEW YORK, NEW YORK; THE BIG APPLE;

SHAME on thee, O Manhattan, whom I love!
And shame on me that I have slept away
So many years while thy feet went astray!
O Thou- that should'st be white as any dove,
Thou Scarlet Woman! Is there no voice to
move --
No hand to smite us? Even for this I pray --
Some terrible scourging that we have let the day
Darken around us while we saw thee rove.
Last night I heard thee cry. Thy wandering feet
Went bleeding by me. On thy ruined breast
I saw thee nurse a feeding child of flame!
Desolate, gorgeous, frantic along the street!
Ah, how I blushed in the dark that through my
rest
I felt the burning garments of thy shame.



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