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Show U i lifiHK SAN franciscan ' !yHH Such darkness, as when Jesus died! Kti c'IBHh Then sudden dawn drave all before, -iflK Two wee brown tomtits terrified, Hl -RIm Flashed through my open cottage door; Hml 't'SBWtl Then instant out and off again ftf 'mHI Ancl loft a stillnQSS lce to pain VdHBI Such stilInoss' darkness, sudden dawn Pl 1 never knew or looked upon! This ardent, occidental dawn Dashed San Francisco's streets with gold, Just gold and gold to walk upon, As he of Patmos sang of old, And still, so still, her streets, her steeps, As when some great soul silent weeps; And oh, that gold, that gold that lay Beyond, above the tarn, brown bay! And then a bolt, a jolt, a chill, And Mother Earth seemed as- afraid; Tren instant all again was still, Save that my cattle from the shade Where they had sought firm, rooted clay, Came forth glad lowing, glad as May, Knee-deep in grasses to rejoice That all was well, with trumpet voice. Not so yon city darkness, dust, Then martial men in swift array, Then smcke, then iiames, then great guns thrust To heaven, as if pots of clay, Cathedral, temple, palace, tower An hundred wars in one wild hour! And still the smoke, the flame, the guns, The piteous wall of little ones! The mad flame climbed the costly steep, But man, defiant, climbed the flame, What battles where the torn clouds keep! What deeds of glory in God's name! What sons of giants giants, yea Or beardless lad or veteran gray, Not Marathon not Waterloo Not men so daring, dauntless, true. Three days, three nights, three fearful days, Of death, of flame, of dynamite, Of God's house thrown a thousand ways; Blown east by day, blown west by night By night? There was no night. Nay, nay, The ghoulish flame1 lit nights that lay Crouched down between this first, last day; I say those nights- were burned away! And jealousies were burned away, And burned were city rivalries, Till all, white crescenting the bay, Were one harmonious hive of bees. Behold the bravest battle won! The City Beautiful begun, One solid San Francisco, one. The fairest sight beneath the sun. One single city, Empress, bride, The pride of all our sounding seas. The Nation's bride, the Nation's pride, Her thousand banners to the breeze. This pulsing, soulful, perfect bay, The heart of San Francisco Yea Build East, build" West, build as you may This soul Is San Francisco Bay. This was written in haste at my home from "where I saw the catastrophe, and as I never saw the proof of the lines, I have made some corrections correc-tions and added this verse for Goodwin's Weekly. JOAQUIN MILLER. In Japan the people watch bird and beast when a great catastrophe is; and when they come forth from cover they, know the worst is over. |
