Page:Slabs of the sunburnt West.djvu/29
This page needs to be proofread.
The Windy City
15
If the people of the city all move away and leave no
people at all to watch and keep the city.
It is wisdom to think no city stood here at all until
the working men, the laughing men, came.
It is wisdom to think to-morrow new working men, new
laughing men, may come and put up a new city—
Living lighted skyscrapers and a night lingo of lanterns
testify to-morrow shall have its own say-so.
people at all to watch and keep the city.
It is wisdom to think no city stood here at all until
the working men, the laughing men, came.
It is wisdom to think to-morrow new working men, new
laughing men, may come and put up a new city—
Living lighted skyscrapers and a night lingo of lanterns
testify to-morrow shall have its own say-so.
9
Night gathers itself into a ball of dark yarn.
Night loosens the ball and it spreads.
The lookouts from the shores of Lake Michigan
find night follows day, and ping! ping! across
sheet gray the boat lights put their signals.
Night lets the dark yarn unravel, Night speaks and
the yarns change to fog and blue strands.
Night gathers itself into a ball of dark yarn.
Night loosens the ball and it spreads.
The lookouts from the shores of Lake Michigan
find night follows day, and ping! ping! across
sheet gray the boat lights put their signals.
Night lets the dark yarn unravel, Night speaks and
the yarns change to fog and blue strands.
The lookouts turn to the city.
The canyons swarm with red sand lights
of the sunset.
The atoms drop and sift, blues cross over,
yellows plunge.
Mixed light shafts stack their bayonets,
pledge with crossed handles.
So, when the canyons swarm, it is then the
lookouts speak
Of the high spots over a street … mountain language
Of skyscrapers in dusk, the Railway Exchange,
The People's Gas, the Monadnock, the Transportation,
Gone to the gloaming.
The canyons swarm with red sand lights
of the sunset.
The atoms drop and sift, blues cross over,
yellows plunge.
Mixed light shafts stack their bayonets,
pledge with crossed handles.
So, when the canyons swarm, it is then the
lookouts speak
Of the high spots over a street … mountain language
Of skyscrapers in dusk, the Railway Exchange,
The People's Gas, the Monadnock, the Transportation,
Gone to the gloaming.