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Home  »  The Book of New York Verse  »  Walter Prichard Eaton

Hamilton Fish Armstrong, ed. The Book of New York Verse. 1917.

Washington Square, North

Walter Prichard Eaton

RED-BRICK and sunny in a cheerful row,

Unboastful of the beauty they possess,

These ancient houses face the square; the stress

Of commerce from the nervous town below

Swept round and far beyond them long ago;

Upon their view the high warehouses press;

But they abide in their old-worldliness,

And time with them moves gratefully and slow.

Not otherwise when time and age advance

May I look forth on some green spot in life,

And keep the world aloof to see the sun,

And hold the children in a kindly glance,

There peacefully to pass out from the strife,

Unsoiled, unwearied, when my day is done.