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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TWO LIVES. PART 1: 1 by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

First Line: THE SHINING CITY OF MY MANHOOD'S GRIEF
Last Line: TIME'S PALLID BACKGROUNDS TO MY SOUL AND ME.

The shining City of my manhood's grief
Is girt by hills and lakes (the lakes are four),
Left me by the ice-sheet which from Labrador
Under old suns once carved this land's relief,
Ere wild men came with building and belief
Across the midland swale. And slope and shore
Still guard the forest pathos of dead lore
With burial mound of many an Indian chief,
And sacred spring. Around me, Things-to-come
Are rising (by the plans of my compeers)
For art and science, like a wiser Rome
Upon a wiser earth for wiser years. --
Large thoughts, before and after; yet they be
Time's pallid backgrounds to my soul and me.



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