Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CRACK O' DAWN, by FANNIE STEARNS DAVIS GIFFORD


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CRACK O' DAWN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Crack o' dawn! Red sun looks in
Last Line: God! Could I forget! Forget!
Alternate Author Name(s): Davis, Fannie Stearns
Subject(s): Morning


CRACK o'dawn! Red sun looks in
Through my curtains white and thin.
Sun looks in, and I look out
At the sweet world spread about.
Silver dew on lilac-tree,
Meadow-larks desiring me,
Hills that sleep along the dawn,
Sense of wise stars just withdrawn,
(Serious stars that hide away
In the hot blue halls of Day.)

No one sees me as I run
Clear to meet the clear-eyed sun.
No one hears me laugh and sing
Many a dawn-swept dancing thing.

No one knows my prayers are made
Out of dew-pearl and leaf-shade,
Out of lark-song and sky-breath;
Simplest challengers of death.

Crack o' dawn. The City still
Sleeps behind my daisy-hill;
Very dull, with shutters locked.
Though the red sun knocked and knocked
They would never ask him in.
But the bull-mouthed whistles' din
Breaks their heavy dreams apart;
And they groan, and stretch, and start
Grumbling up.

O Dawn! Am I
Guilty of their sweat and sigh?
Am I cold and hard, to run
Free of foot to meet the sun,
While the bull-mouthed whistles roar,
And the drab-faced people pour
Herded down the blank gray street, --
Leaden eyes and leaden feet?

Could I help them if I too
Lost my sunrise leaves and dew?
If I made my own dreams gray
With the dust of day-to-day,
And forgot the stars, and fell
In that hideous barren Hell,
Where, I think, my soul would be
Hard for God Himself to see?

Once I was a pagan, wild
With the wonder of a child.
Once I thought the City too
Might go free of dawns and dew.
Oh, I thought them stupid folk,
With their crazy wheels and smoke,
Swarming babies, huddling halls,
Brazen laughter, sodden brawls,
And their blind souls, -- blind, while I
Played the god with wind and sky.

Crack o' dawn! Red sun, I wake
Singing for your splendid sake;
Silent, for the City still
Drugged behind my daisy-hill.

Oh, but were I pagan yet!
God! could I forget! forget!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net