Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NEW CITY, by MARGUERITE WILKINSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NEW CITY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Have we seen her, the new city, o my brothers, where she stands
Last Line: Happier, if our human travail builds their avenues to god!
Subject(s): Holidays; Patriotism; Veterans Day


Have we seen her, The New City, O my brothers, where she stands,
The superb, supreme creation of unnumbered human hands:
The complete and sweet expression of unnumbered human souls,
Bound by love to work together while their love their work controls;
Built by brothers for their brothers, kept by sisters for their mates,
Garlanded by happy children, playing free within the gates,
Brooded by such mighty mothers as are born to lift us up
Till we drink in full communion of God's wondrous "loving cup"?

Clean and sightly are her pavements ringing sound beneath men's feet,
Wide and ample are her forums where her citizens may meet,
Fair and precious are her gardens where her youths and maidens dance
In the fresh, pure air of Heaven, 'mid the flowers' extravagance.
And her schools are as the ladders to the Spirit, from the Clay,
Leading, round by round, to labor, strengthened, side by side, with play,
And her teachers are her bravest, and her governors her best,
For she loves the little children she has nourished at her breast.

Never clangor of the trumpet, nor the hiss of bullets mad
Breaks the music of her fountains, plashing seaward, flashing glad,
For no excess and no squalor mark her fruitful, fair increase—
She has wrought life's final glory in a miracle of peace,
And her citizens live justly, without gluttony or need,
And he strives to serve the city who has bread enough to feed
All his own, and she must labor, who would hold an honored place
With the women of the city in their dignity and grace.

Have ye seen her, O my brothers, The New City, where each hour
Is a poet's revelation, or a hero's perfect power,
Or an artist's new creation, or a laborer's new strength,
Where a world of aspiration clings God by the feet, at length?
Have ye seen her, The New City, in her glory? Ah, not yet
Gilds the sun with actual splendor chimney top and minaret,
But her site is surely purchased and her pattern is designed,
And her blessed ways are visions for all striving humankind!

The New City, O my brothers, we ourselves shall never see—
She will gladden children's children into holy ecstasy—
Let our lives be in the building! We shall lay us in the sod
Happier, if our human travail builds their avenues to God!






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