Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Western States: Chicago, Ill. | | Chicago | | Bret Harte (1836–1902) |
| | (The Great Conflagration of October 8–10, 1871)
BLACKENED and bleeding, helpless, panting, prone, | |
| On the charred fragments of her shattered throne | |
| Lies she who stood but yesterday alone. | |
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| Queen of the West! by some enchanter taught | |
| To lift the glory of Aladdin’s court, | 5 |
| Then lose the spell that all that wonder wrought. | |
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| Like her own prairies by some chance seed sown, | |
| Like her own prairies in one brief day grown, | |
| Like her own prairies in one fierce night mown. | |
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| She lifts her voice, and in her pleading call | 10 |
| We hear the cry of Macedon to Paul, | |
| The cry for help that makes her kin to all. | |
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| But haply with wan fingers may she feel | |
| The silver cup hid in the proffered meal, | |
| The gifts her kinship and our loves reveal. | 15 | | | |
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