GUARDED by circling streams and wooded mountains, Like sentinels round a queen, Dotted with groves and musical with fountains, The city lies serene. Not far away the Atlantic tide diverges, And, up the southern shore Of gray New England, rolls in shortened surges, That murmur evermore. The fairy city! not for frowning castle Do I extol her name, Not for the gardens and the domes palatial Of oriental fame; Yet if there be one man who will not rally, One man, who sayeth not That of all cities in the Eastern valley Ours is the fairest spot; Then let him roam beneath those elms gigantic, Or idly wander where Shetucket flows meandering, where Yantic Leaps through the cloven air; Gleaming from rock to rock with sunlit motion, Then slumbering in the cove; So sinks the soul, from Passion's wild devotion, To the deep calm of Love. And journey with me to the village olden, Among whose devious ways Are mossy mansions, rich with legends golden Of early forest days; Elysian time! when, by the rippling water, Or in the woodland groves, The Indian warrior and the Sachem's daughter Whispered their artless loves; Legends of fords, where Uncas made his transit, Fierce for the border war, And drove all day the alien Narragansett Back to his haunts afar; Tales of the after-time, when scant and humble Grew the Mohegan band, And Tracy, Griswold, Huntington, and Trumbull Were judges in the land. So let the caviller feast on old tradition, And then at sunset climb Up yon green hill, where on his broadened vision May burst the view sublime! The city spires, with stately power impelling The soul to look above, And peaceful homes, in many a rural dwelling, Lit up with flames of love; -- And then confess, nor longer idly dally, While sinks the lingering sun, That of all cities in the Eastern valley Ours is the fairest one. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DIVINATION BY A DAFFADILL by ROBERT HERRICK WHAT THE ENGINE SAYS by ALEXANDER ANDERSON DESERT by PATRICK JOHN MCALISTER ANDERSON A MINUTE by INNOKENTI FYODOROVICH ANNENSKY SHE BEGINING TO STUDY PHISICK ... FALLS INTO A DEGRESSION ON ANATOMY by JANE BARKER |