Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN PHILADELPHIA by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAVE SEEN SUNSETS GOLD THE PILLARED STEAM
Last Line: AN OLD, OLD WOMAN, WHO HAD ONCE BEEN YOUNG.
Subject(s): PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA;
I

I HAVE seen sunsets gold the pillared steam
Where Broad Street Station hoops with arches dark
The western fire; and seen the looming, stark
Crags of the Hall grow soft in morning gleam.
One drowsy eye I wandered far to mark
The Neck, a land of opal color-scheme;
And know no faired place to watch and dream
Than on a bench in old Penn Treaty Park.

II

I HAVE seen streets where strange enchantment broods:
Old ruddy houses where the morning shone
In seemly quiet on their tranquil moods,
Across the sills white curtains outward blown.
Their marble steps were scoured as white as bone
Where scrubbing housemaids toiled on wounded knee --
And yet, among all streets that I have known
These placid byways give least peace to me.

In such a house, where green light shining through
(From some back garden) framed her silhouette
I saw a girl, heard music blithely sung.
She stood there laughing, in a dress of blue,
And as I went on, slowly, there I met
An old, old woman, who had once been young.




Home: PoetryExplorer.net