Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GHOSTS OF PAPER, by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS First Line: Should you go down ludgate hill Last Line: As I'm sure you often will! Subject(s): Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain) | ||||||||
SHOULD you go down Ludgate Hill, As I'm sure you sometimes will, When the dark comes soft and new, Smudged and smooth and powder-blue, And the lights on either hand, Run away to reach the Strand; And the winter rains that stream Make the pavements glance and gleam; There you'll see the wet roofs rise Packed against the lamp-lit skies, And at once you shall look down Into an enchanted town. Jewelled Fleet Street, golden gay, Sloughs the drab of work-a-day, Conjuring before you then All her ghosts of ink and pen, Striking form her magic mint Places you have loved in print, From the fairy towns and streets Raised by Djinn and fierce Afreets, To the columned brass that shone On the gates of Babylon. You shall wander, mazed, amid Pylon, palm, and pyramid; You shall see, where taxis throng, River lamps of old Hong Kong; See the ramparts standing tall Of the wondrous Tartar Wall; See, despite of rain and wind, Marble towns of rosy Ind, And the domes and palaces Crowning Tripoli and Fez. While, where buses churn and splash, There's the ripple of a sash, Silken maid and paper fan And the peach-bloom of Japan. But, the finest thing of all, You shall ride a charger tall Into huddled towns that haunt Picture-books of old romaunt, Where go squire and knight and saint, Heavy limned in golden paint; You shall ride above the crowd On a courser pacing proud, In fit panoply and meet Through be-cobbled square and street, Where with bays and gestures bland Little brown-faced angles stand! These are some of things you'll view When the night is blurred and blue, If you look down Ludgate Hill, As I'm sure you often will! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CALIFORNIA SORROW: MOUNTAIN VIEW by MARY KINZIE CONTRA MORTEM: THE MOUNTAIN FASTNESS by HAYDEN CARRUTH GREEN MOUNTAIN IDYL by HAYDEN CARRUTH IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU by HAYDEN CARRUTH A BLACK-LETTER STORY-BOOK by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS |
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