Evelyn was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. These lines probably were written in the late 1920's or early 1930's and reflect the changes she had seen in her own lifetime. Moses Cleveland (1754-1806) was a lawyer, politician, soldier, and surveyor from Connecticut. He founded the city of Cleveland, Ohio while surveying the Western reserve in 1796. The reserve consisted of lands claimed by Connecticut in the Northwest Territory which now is north eastern Ohio.
Moses Cleaveland Speaks
Where are the trees that washed their shadow-heads
In moon-lit baths? I thought I heard them pleading
Last night, slim ghosts that stirred the dark, unheeding
The steel and stone that have usurped their beds.
Their voices wore a sackcloth spun of dreads.
Their hands and feet were desolate with bleeding;
Their bodies, shallow with the death of needing
A world whose values clamor golden threads.
The same hewn shore-line streaks Lake Erie’s side,
Worn thin and bare in storm-distracted parts.
But Progress swings its pointed pendulum
And coldly spears a sky of aching hearts.
The shell is but a shell, since Wealth has come.
The splendor has been wrung; the dream has died.
Evelyn Coffey
This poem has left a lasting impression on me as one of elegant (simple and effective) commentary on the cost of urban development. It deserves to be brought into the light now as progress is slowed by the economy and we have an unrequested opportunity to reflect before "progressing" further. Perhaps you can share this with local conservation groups?
ReplyDelete