Dawn in New York
From Off the Road Database
Author | McKay, Claude |
---|---|
Genre | Poetry |
Journal or Book | Harlem Shadows |
Publisher | New York Harcourt, Brace and Company |
Year of Publication | 1922 |
Pages | 43 |
Additional information | This poem also appeared under the title To Work in a different collection. |
The Dawn! The Dawn! The crimson-tinted,
comes
Out of the low still skies, over the hills,
Manhattan's roofs and spires and cheerless domes!
The Dawn! My spirit to its spirit thrills.
Almost the mighty city is asleep,
No pushing crowd, no tramping, tramping feet.
But here and there a few cars groaning creep
Along, above, and underneath the street,
Bearing their strangely-ghostly burdens by,
The women and the men of garish nights,
Their eyes wine-weakened and their clothes awry,
Grotesques beneath the strong electric lights.
The shadows wane. The Dawn comes to New
York.
And I go darkly-rebel to my work.