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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD, by ROLFE HUMPHRIES Poet's Biography
First Line: No permanent possession of the sky
Last Line: Your rusting, huddled, fragmentary bones.
Subject(s): Cities; Urban Life
First Line: No permanent possession of the sky
Last Line: Your rusting, huddled, fragmentary bones.
Subject(s): Cities; Urban Life
No permanent possession of the sky
Nor everlasting lease upon the air
Is given any town. Prepare, prepare
To see your towers falling! By and by
Vertical city, delicate and high,
Even your cliffs must crack, topple, and share
The common doom that blunter buildings bear --
Tumble and crumble, disappear and die.
And some day solemn folk, who never knew,
Except from ancient hearsay, all your wonder
Of splendid elevating steel and stones,
Will come with shovels rummaging for you,
With dredges pull the river mud from under
Your rusting, huddled, fragmentary bones.
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