| Hamilton Fish Armstrong, ed. The Book of New York Verse. 1917. | | | | Washington Square | | By Richard Watson Gilder |
| | | THIS is the end of town I love the best. | |
| O, lovely the hour of light from the burning west— | |
| Of light that lingers and fades in the shadowy square | |
| Where the solemn fountain lifts a shaft in the air | |
| To catch the skyey colours, and fling them down | 5 |
| In a wild-wood torrent that drowns the noise of the town. | |
| And lovely the hour of the still and dreamy night | |
| When, lifted against the blue, stands the arch of white | |
| With one clear planet above; and the sickle moon, | |
| In curve reversed from the arch’s marble round, | 10 |
| Silvers the sapphire sky. Now soon, ah, soon, | |
| Shall the city square be turned to holy ground, | |
| Through the light of the moon and the stars and the glowing flower,— | |
| The Cross of Light,—that looms from the sacred tower. | | | | |
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