Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ACROSS THE CITY, by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE First Line: I stood upon a dizzy roof which towered Last Line: Reveals but mounds of vanished majesty. Subject(s): Cities; Streets; Urban Life; Avenues | ||||||||
I STOOD upon a dizzy roof which towered Above the serried city's chimneyed miles. The canyons of the streets, like narrow aisles, Stretched far away to where the cloud mists lowered; I, gazing, felt the nerve fright of a coward, So small was I, so great the plain of tiles Which sheltered all those steel-supported piles; My senses shook, with vastness overpowered. But not alone from danger of the height, Nor from that scene's immense, gray mystery Did tremblings come. There swam before my sight The roofs of Babylon which used to be As stanch as these. Yet now the morning light Reveals but mounds of vanished majesty. | Other Poems of Interest...CHINATOWN BLUES by CLARENCE MAJOR KEEP DRIVING by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE DEEP IN EUROPE by TOMAS TRANSTROMER IN THE STREETS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER EVENING SONG ON OUR STREET by DAVID WAGONER ANGLOSAXON STREET by EARL (EARLE) BIRNEY SONNET: 24. THE STREET by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL A STEP AWAY FROM THEM by FRANK O'HARA (1926-1966) |
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