Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MOUNT TACOMA, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MOUNT TACOMA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am tacoma, monarch of the coast!
Last Line: And know tacoma reigns forevermore!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Mount Rainier


I AM Tacoma, Monarch of the Coast!
Uncounted ages heaped my shining snows;
The sun by day, by night the starry host,
Crown me with splendor; every breeze that blows
Wafts incense to my altars; never wanes
The glory my adoring children boast,
For one with sun and sea Tacoma reigns!

Tacoma — the Great Snow Peak — mighty name
My dusky tribes revered when time was young!
Their god was I in avalanche and flame —
In grove and mead and songs my rivers sung
As blithe they ran to make the valleys fair —
Their Shrine of Peace where no avenger came
To vex Tacoma, lord of earth and air.

Ah! when at morn above the mists I tower
And see my cities gleam by slope and strand,
What joy have I in this transcendent dower —
The strength and beauty of my sea-girt land
That holds the future royally in fee!
And lest some danger, undescried, should lower,
From my far height I watch o'er wave and lea.

And cloudless eves when calm in heaven I rest,
All rose-bloom with a glow of paradise,
And through my firs the balm-wind of the west,
Blown over ocean islands, softly sighs,
While placid lakes my radiant image frame —
And know my worshippers, in loving quest,
Will mark my brow and fond lips breathe my name:

Enraptured from my valleys to my snows,
I charm my glow to crimson — soothe to gray;
And when the encircling shadow deeper grows,
Poise, a lone cloud, beside the starry way;
Then, while my realm is hushed from steep to shore,
I yield my grandeur to divine repose,
And know Tacoma reigns forevermore!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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