| |
| A GRANITE cliff on either shore, | |
| A highway poised in air; | |
| Above, the wheels of traffic roar, | |
| Below, the fleets sail fair;— | |
| And in and out forevermore, | 5 |
| The surging tides of ocean pour, | |
| And past the towers the white gulls soar, | |
| And winds the sea-clouds bear. | |
| |
| O peerless this majestic street, | |
| This road that leaps the brine! | 10 |
| Upon its heights twin cities meet, | |
| And throng its grand incline,— | |
| To east, to west, with swiftest feet, | |
| Though ice may crash and billows beat, | |
| Though blinding fogs the wave may greet | 15 |
| Or golden summer shine. | |
| |
| Sail up the Bay with morning’s beam, | |
| Or rocky Hellgate by,— | |
| Its columns rise, its cables gleam, | |
| Great tents athwart the sky! | 20 |
| And lone it looms, august, supreme, | |
| When, with the splendor of a dream, | |
| Its blazing cressets gild the stream | |
| Till evening shadows fly. | |
| |
| By Nile stand proud the pyramids, | 25 |
| But they were for the dead; | |
| The awful gloom that joy forbids, | |
| The mourners’ silent tread, | |
| The crypt, the coffin’s stony lids,— | |
| Sad as a soul the maze that thrids | 30 |
| Of dark Amenti, ere it rids | |
| Its way of judgment dread. | |
| |
| This glorious arch, these climbing towers, | |
| Are all for life and cheer! | |
| Part of the New World’s nobler dowers; | 35 |
| Hint of millennial year | |
| That comes apace, though evil lowers,— | |
| When loftier aims and larger powers | |
| Will mould and deck this earth of ours, | |
| And heaven at length bring near! | 40 |
| |
| Unmoved its cliffs shall crown the shore; | |
| Its arch the chasm dare; | |
| Its network hang, the blue before, | |
| As gossamer in air; | |
| While in and out forevermore, | 45 |
| The surging tides of ocean pour, | |
| And past its towers the white gulls soar | |
| And winds the sea-clouds bear! | |
| |
