Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SWEETHEART: THOMPSON STREET, by SAMUEL DUFF MCCOY First Line: Queen of all streets, fifth avenue Last Line: I am called liberty! Subject(s): Freedom; New York City - Streets; Liberty | ||||||||
Queen of all streets, Fifth Avenue Stretches her slender limbs From the great Arch of Triumph, on On, where the distance dims The splendors of her jewelled robes, Her granite draperies; The magic, sunset-smitten walls That veil her marble knees; For ninety squares she lies a queen, Superb, bare, unashamed, Yielding her beauty scornfully To worshippers unnamed, But at her feet her sister glows, A daughter of the South: Squalid, immeasurably mean, But oh! her hot, sweet mouth! My Thompson Street! a Tuscan girl, Hot with life's wildest blood; Her black shawl on her black, black hair, Her brown feet stained with mud; A scarlet blossom at her lips, A new babe at her breast; A singer at a wine-shop door, (Her lover unconfessed). Listen! a hurdy-gurdy plays Now alien melodies: She smiles, she cannot quite forget The mother over-seas. But she no less is mine alone, Mine, mine! ... Who may I be? Have I betrayed her from her home? I am called Liberty! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE THE WILD SWAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE QUARTET IN F MAJOR by WILLIAM MEREDITH CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |
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