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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A CITY GARDEN by ARTHUR GUITERMAN

First Line: SUN-WARMED, WHERE HUDSON MEETS THE SEA
Last Line: MY SUZERAINE -- THE FAERY QUEEN.
Subject(s): CITIES; FAIRIES; GARDENS & GARDENING; NEW YORK CITY - COLONIAL PERIOD; URBAN LIFE; ELVES;

@3Sun-warmed, where Hudson meets the sea,
My motley-blossomed croft is sown --
A desert inn that cheers the bee
Astray amid our wastes of stone --

Where pansies raise their velvet heads,
Where lilies nod to hollyhocks
Across the sweet-alyssum beds;
And tiger-bells and four-o'clocks,

Right neighborly, together grow --
The wild and tame, the red and white;
And here I spend the hour of glow
Ere moths and bats bring in the night.

And here my chair's a ducal throne;
I rule a fief in Fairyland,
Though scarce to any serf is known
My puissant, scepter-wielding hand.

Unchecked, his subterrene abode
That Earth-gnome Worm may dig with zeal,
Nor shall I balk the Ogre Toad
Who marks him for a horrid meal!

Those gay Zingaras of the breeze,
The air-delighting Butterflies,
Have come to woo my trellised peas
That mock so well their forms and dyes.

I know yon dart of emerald light
That shakes the arbor's dewy shower!
The Humming-bird, bold errant knight,
Is tilting with the trumpet-flower!

Unthanked, unknown, aloof, benign,
By wayward whim alone controlled,
Like him that ruled in ease divine
The careless, lawless Age of Gold,

So do I hold Saturnian reign
Till one transcending day, I ween,
Shall welcome to her leal domain
My Suzeraine -- the Faery Queen.@1



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