Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO NEW YORK, AWAKENING, by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO NEW YORK, AWAKENING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O city of a thousand towers
Last Line: "man is as mighty as his noblest dream."
Subject(s): New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple


O CITY of a thousand towers --
And every tower a city! Seen from far,
When homesick travelers tread the lagging ship,
And find their thought enstatued in high bronze,
How beautiful thou art, how strong, how dear!
Half-veiled by April's morning mist, thou art
A dream of Orient fancy, mirrored white
On hospitable waters. From thy roofs,
Like bannered army, flies the cloudy breath
Of onward-pressing Commerce. In the hush
Of brown November evenings, thou dost flower,
Before the sky, in constellated light.
New power has brought thee beauty new and rare.
Sated with Europe, our still hungry eyes
Covet our own. And as we look with pride
On rock-set walls we say: So deep, so high
Be Freedom's structure, buttressed by the law.
Here shall the Old World's poor, the Old World's waif,
Retreating from their fate, forever find
In thee the refuge of an open door --
A fortress, such as fearful races built
In the dim ages on securest hills.

Oh, shall this vision be but naught? -- this torch
Extinguished? -- this world-hope be quenched?
Is this piled marble meant for Manhood's tomb?
Is there no Soul within these iron ribs?
Is there no music but the clink of coin?
Is blood on every lintel? Do all doors
Fall open only to a golden key?
Shalt thou go down with Babylon and Tyre
To fellow and grovel and batten with the beast?
No! rise from sleep the giant that thou art,
And break the bonds of long, complacent years.
Think on the Past: its heroes died for thee;
Think on the Future, lest it spurn thy clay.
Follow the vision, listen to the voice
Beckoning from heights trod only by the brave:
"Man is as mighty as his noblest dream."





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