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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON A SUBWAY EXPRESS, by CHESTER FIRKINS
First Line: I who have lost the stars, the sod
Last Line: Is this wild ride -- with god.
Subject(s): New York City; Subways; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple
First Line: I who have lost the stars, the sod
Last Line: Is this wild ride -- with god.
Subject(s): New York City; Subways; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple
I, who have lost the stars, the sod,
For chilling pave and cheerless light,
Have made my meeting-place with God
A new and nether Night --
Have found a fane where thunder fills
Loud caverns, tremulous; -- and these
Atone me for my reverend hills
And moonlit silences.
A figment in the crowded dark,
Where men sit muted by the roar,
I ride upon the whirring Spark
Beneath the city's floor.
In this dim firmament, the stars
Whirl by in blazing files and tiers;
Kin meteors graze our flying bars,
Amid the spinning spheres.
Speed! speed! until the quivering rails
Flash silver where the head-light gleams,
As when on lakes the Moon impales
The waves upon its beams.
Life throbs about me, yet I stand
Outgazing on majestic Power;
Death rides with me, on either hand,
In my communion hour.
You that 'neath country skies can pray,
Scoff not at me -- the city clod; --
My only respite of the Day
Is this wild ride -- with God.
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