OH, the smoke of the city! Pouring in columns black and thick; Swooping, a nightmare bird of prey, From a hideous eyrie of iron and brick, Obscuring the day; Sinister, greasy, noisome, vile, Spoiling the delicate, fouling the pure, Creeping like sorrowful sin or guile Through tiniest cranny and lock secure. The rosiest chamber reeks with its breath, And the dens already besmirched with death. It broods impartial, sullying all, Palace, tenement, hovel and hall; Beauty's ruin and Nature's ban, Price of the fierce, packed struggle of man. Grim smoke hovering without pity, Over the city. Oh, the smoke of the city! Rising and rolling a magical stream, Spreading and wavering higher and higher; Bright with the opaline colors of dream, A torrent of beauty, a cloud of desire. Delicate gossamer rags float free, Drifting into eternity, Washed with radiance, purged and clean, All-escaping, ethereal, new; Vision of poets sublime, serene, Etching the blue; Life transfigured by hope again, Prize of the dear, near loving of men. Glorified smoke, like a halo of pity, Over the city. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SOME VERSES UPON THE BURNING OF OUR HOUSE JULY 10, 1666 by ANNE BRADSTREET ODE TO TRANQUILLITY by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE LOREINE: A HORSE by ARTHUR DAVISON FICKE THE BATTLE OF LA PRAIRIE, 1691 by WILLIAM DOUW LIGHTHALL THE SWING by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON A BALLAD UPON A WEDDING by JOHN SUCKLING |