Men said at vespers: “All is well!”
In one wild night the city fell;
Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain
Before the fiery hurricane.
On threescore spires had sunset shone,
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none.
Men clasped each other’s hands, and said
“The City of the West is dead!”
Brave hearts who fought, in slow retreat,
The fiends of fire from street to street,
Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare,
The dumb defiance of despair.
A sudden impulse thrilled each wire
That signalled round that sea of fire;
Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came;
In tears of pity died the flame!
From East, from West, from South and North,
The messages of hope shot forth,
And, underneath the severing wave,
The world, full-handed, reached to save.
Fair seemed the old; but fairer still
The new, the dreary void shall fill
With dearer homes than those o’erthrown,
For love shall lay each corner-stone.
Rise, stricken city! from thee throw
The ashen sackcloth of thy woe;
And build, as to Amphion’s strain,
To songs of cheer thy walls again!
How shrivelled in thy hot distress
The primal sin of selfishness!
How instant rose, to take thy part,
The angel in the human heart!
Ah! not in vain the flames that tossed
Above thy dreadful holocaust;
The Christ again has preached through thee
The Gospel of Humanity!
Then lift once more thy towers on high,
And fret with spires the western sky,
To tell that God is yet with us,
And love is still miraculous!
(John Greenleaf Whittier)
More Poetry from John Greenleaf Whittier:
John Greenleaf Whittier Poems based on Topics: God, Man, Love, Prayers, Christianity, World, Fire, Hope, Angels, Fairness, Jesus Christ- The Pennsylvania (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- Aechdeacon Barbour (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- Among the Hills (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- Mogg Megone - Part II. (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- Mogg Megone - Part I. (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- Miriam (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, World Poems, Fairness Poems, Christianity Poems, Fire Poems, Hope Poems, Jesus Christ Poems, Prayers Poems, Angels PoemsBased on Keywords: heart-throbs, amphion, corner-stone, signalled, full-handed
- Poem For The Two Hundred And Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Founding Of Harvard College (Oliver Wendell Holmes Poems)
- The School Of The Heart. Lesson The Second. (Henry Alford Poems)
- A Story Of Doom: Book I. (Jean Ingelow Poems)
- An Anatomy Of The World... (John Donne Poems)
- Festus - XVI (Philip James Bailey Poems)