Frances Shaw. The City Lights from a Skyscraper. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

The City Lights from a Skyscraper

By Frances Shaw


FROM my high window at the fall of night,
I see the low-hung firmament of light:

Like port-holes of a ship afloat in space
Or danger signals in a hidden place;

An iridescent serpent with black jaws;	5
A banner tattered in a giant’s cause;

A sun-touched river winding through the gloom;
Wild writing on the heavens of a doom;

Or just the cottage-candles in a wood
Where children play together and are good.	10