The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/To Towne's Volcanic Mount
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To Towne's Volcanic Mount
Hail, barren mount of old azoic time;
Lone towering offspring of a sulphurous clime;
Did hoary Pluto bid thy crest arise
Ere sun, or moon, or stars bedecked the skies?
Was earth, new-formed by Vulcan's seething might,
A flooded waste but for thy stony height;
Without a sound save ocean's ceaseless roar,
A darkened, deathlike silence brooding o'er?
Was it ere man or beast the landscape knew,
Or fragrant blossom drank the evening dew?
Did Hudson lave as now its rocky side
When first thou cam'st in smoking, fiery pride?
Pray tell at last the mysteries of thy birth,
When heavenly fiat shaped the teeming earth;
That I to coming man thy tale may show,
And all our race the ancient secret know!
Lone towering offspring of a sulphurous clime;
Did hoary Pluto bid thy crest arise
Ere sun, or moon, or stars bedecked the skies?
Was earth, new-formed by Vulcan's seething might,
A flooded waste but for thy stony height;
Without a sound save ocean's ceaseless roar,
A darkened, deathlike silence brooding o'er?
Was it ere man or beast the landscape knew,
Or fragrant blossom drank the evening dew?
Did Hudson lave as now its rocky side
When first thou cam'st in smoking, fiery pride?
Pray tell at last the mysteries of thy birth,
When heavenly fiat shaped the teeming earth;
That I to coming man thy tale may show,
And all our race the ancient secret know!
March 23, 1918