Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IRRADIATIONS: 9 by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER

First Line: THE HOUSES OF THE CITY NO LONGER HUM AND PLAY
Last Line: SEES, IN THE SHADOW BELOW, THE UNPEOPLED HUSH OF A STREET.
The houses of the city no longer hum and play:
They lie like careless drowsy giants, dumb, estranged.

One presses to his breast his toy, a lighted pane:
One stirs uneasily: one is cold in death.

And the late moon, fearfully peering over an immense shoulder,
Sees, in the shadow below, the unpeopled hush of a street.



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