OLD rails like twin steel ribbons stretch away O'er endless acres seldom kissed by rain. This is the wide unwatered waste of plain, Our arid pastures spread with sterile clay; Here bounteous nature feared to flaunt display Knowing her rich reserves were called in vain, And man within his now-luxurious train Sees cheerless distances and scorns to stay: Thus lies it lonely, lost to fruit and flower, To labor's wand and capital's vast dream; And it shall still be barren to that hour When we shall rise resolving to redeem; Then will it bloom in magic grace and power Fair as a farm by some Iowan stream. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON MY JOYFUL DEPARTURE FROM THE CITY OF COLOGNE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ON THE BUILDING OF SPRINGFIELD by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY EVANGELINE; A TALE OF ACADIE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ON THE LIFE OF MAN by WALTER RALEIGH THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 6. THE KISS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI EMIGRATION by LISA DOMINGUEZ ABRAHAM DISAPPOINTED by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS |