Sunset: St. Louis
Hushed in the smoky haze1 of summer sunset, When I came home again from far-off places, How many times I saw my western city Dream by her river.
Then for an hour the water wore a mantle2 Of tawny3 gold and mauve and misted turquoise4 Under the tall and darkened arches bearing Gray, high-flung bridges.
Against the sunset, water-towers and steeples Flickered5 with fire up the slope to westward6, And old warehouses7 poured their purple shadows Across the levee.
High over them the black train swept with thunder, Cleaving8 the city, leaving far beneath it Wharf-boats moored9 beside the old side-wheelers Resting in twilight10.