GRANITE unsharded by the fires of revolt, granite refined to the subtlety of a porcelain goddess of mercy — common-sense Hamilton! Under the elm's sex-partite vaulting, opposing the agitation of Washington on horseback stands Hamilton, — He has the stodgy dignity of a tobacco Indian with his pompous calf stuck out after the Bourbon manner; but his shoulders, pressing forward with the elemental impulse of a figurehead upon a Yankee clipper (the @3Invincible,@1 you know, that rounds Cape Horn in no time) show us Hamilton, the genius of the Yankee Ship of State. The sculptor, as he chipped in a crisp mastery the medallion on the pedestal, thought, no doubt, of Thorvaldsen; but his nostrils smarted with the native fragrance of ships' carving with the nostalgic smells of China hanging over the warm wharves of Salem as he pounded the @3esprit@1 with a mallet and a chisel into the laboured, bare achievement of the staunch little spine of Federalist Hamilton, the arrogant bastard under a prophetic mantle — Hamilton, the untroubled wisdom that speaks behind the mask of Washington, Hamilton, voice of Sovereignty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEDICATION IN THESE DAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVID IGNATOW DEAD LEAVES by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A LITTLE GIRL'S PRAYER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DOMESDAY BOOK: JOHN SCOFIELD by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COONEY POTTER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ELEGY: THE GHOST WHOSE LIPS WERE WARM; FOR GEOFFREY GORER by EDITH SITWELL |