Poems (King)/The Columbian Exposition
The Columbian Exposition
(Chicago—1893)
CITY, that lifts unto the bending blue
The matchless splendor of white palace walls,
Thy fame, embodied beauty, shall be sung
By bards immortal of an age to be.
But happier we whose ravished eyes behold
The rare and dazzling radiance of thy charms.
Fancies long lingering in the poet's mind
Lo! here have birth, and Athens' fame doth pale
Before thy domes and stately minarets.
CITY, that lifts unto the bending blue
The matchless splendor of white palace walls,
Thy fame, embodied beauty, shall be sung
By bards immortal of an age to be.
But happier we whose ravished eyes behold
The rare and dazzling radiance of thy charms.
Fancies long lingering in the poet's mind
Lo! here have birth, and Athens' fame doth pale
Before thy domes and stately minarets.
Whiter than foam that crests the curling waves
Thy snowy splendors shine. The cunning Greek
Taught the cold marble how to live and breathe,
But 'neath the magic touch of western hands
The dull wood bursts to flower and leaf and vine.
Even as lilies lift their petals pale
From smooth or dimpled tarn, oh! not less fair,
Laved by the azure of thy limpid streams,
The stately beauty of thy temples white.
Columbus, thine the magic name to call
Forth from the artist's beauty-haunted mind
Fair forms that erstwhile peopled his fond dreams.
Thy snowy splendors shine. The cunning Greek
Taught the cold marble how to live and breathe,
But 'neath the magic touch of western hands
The dull wood bursts to flower and leaf and vine.
Even as lilies lift their petals pale
From smooth or dimpled tarn, oh! not less fair,
Laved by the azure of thy limpid streams,
The stately beauty of thy temples white.
Columbus, thine the magic name to call
Forth from the artist's beauty-haunted mind
Fair forms that erstwhile peopled his fond dreams.
All that can glad the eye, or thrill the soul
To silent ecstasy, lo! here have place,—
Arch springs from arch, as if in mad delight
It multiplied its curving beauty rare;
While all the portals blossom into flowers;
And where yon snowy peristyle uplifts
Its columned loveliness to greet the sun,
Dead heroes live again in sculptured stone.
To silent ecstasy, lo! here have place,—
Arch springs from arch, as if in mad delight
It multiplied its curving beauty rare;
While all the portals blossom into flowers;
And where yon snowy peristyle uplifts
Its columned loveliness to greet the sun,
Dead heroes live again in sculptured stone.
Yes, more than earthly beauty is thy dower,
Thou fair, white city of a summer dream;
And e'en the far-renowned Parthenon
Fresh from the master touch of Phidias great,
Surpassed thee not, thou flower of classic art.
Behold how yonder fountains send aloft
Their amethystine streams; and then upsprings
The liquid ruby; now the shimmering pearl]
Flies starward, ere again, in swift descent,
They fall, like rain of jewels from the sky.
Yes, blossom of the winsome May thou art,
Whose breath still lingers on the autumn air;
But like that snowy bloom of night, the cereus pale,
Will fade thy frail and matchless loveliness;
Yet still to memory shall thy splendor cling,
One with the beauty of the twilight star,
Or with the rose that blooms in morning skies.
Thou fair, white city of a summer dream;
And e'en the far-renowned Parthenon
Fresh from the master touch of Phidias great,
Surpassed thee not, thou flower of classic art.
Behold how yonder fountains send aloft
Their amethystine streams; and then upsprings
The liquid ruby; now the shimmering pearl]
Flies starward, ere again, in swift descent,
They fall, like rain of jewels from the sky.
Yes, blossom of the winsome May thou art,
Whose breath still lingers on the autumn air;
But like that snowy bloom of night, the cereus pale,
Will fade thy frail and matchless loveliness;
Yet still to memory shall thy splendor cling,
One with the beauty of the twilight star,
Or with the rose that blooms in morning skies.