SUNRISE IN UTAH

The dun sand-cliffs that break the desert's sea

Rose suddenly upon my sight at dawn,

And terrible in an eternity

Of death took silently the sunrise on.

Purple funereal from rifted skies

Swept down across their proud sterility,

Only to die as here all glory dies,

On barrenness I did not dream could be.

O God, for a bird-song! or opening lips

Of but one flower upon the fatal air,

For but the voice of water as it drips,

Or stir of leaves the day-wind makes aware!

O God, for these, for life! or from the face

Of the world wipe so irreparable a place!