Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CUATRO-CENTENNIAL, by ROLF SOMMER NIELSEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CUATRO-CENTENNIAL, by                    
First Line: Coronado, this land was old
Last Line: And dry and rot and go to dust.
Subject(s): Coronado, Francisco Vasquez De (1510-54); Explorers; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers


Coronado, this land was old
When you first plowed the soil with lance.
Yes, it was old, but you made it young,
For age is not judged by the time that flees
But by the deeds and progress done.
Here there are no pinnacles of high hope in hundred-story buildings;
Therefore, this is not a modern land --
But it is not old.
No glowing tale of conquests made had reached your ears these many years before,
No glowing tale of labor's might today.
This land is not new; it is not old.
It is the time that stands between and is not time;
It has a youthful strength and aged sagacity.
Four hundred years have passed and still the winds sweep and burn,
The cactus is as sharp and the Indian paint-brush as red;
The bones still whiten in the sun
And dry and rot and go to dust.





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