He would have taken a long, long grave -- A long, long grave, for he stood so tall . . . Oh, God, the crash of a breaking wave, And the smell of the nets on the churchyard wall! City Roofs. [Charles Hanson Towne] Roof-tops, roof-tops, what do you cover? Sad folk, bad folk, and many a glowing lover; Wise people, simple people, children of despair -- Roof-tops, roof-tops, hiding pain and care. Roof-tops, roof-tops, O what sin you're knowing, While above you in the sky the white clouds are blowing; While beneath you, agony and dolor and grim strife Fight the olden battle, the olden war of Life. Roof-tops, roof-tops, cover up their shame -- Wretched souls, prisoned souls too piteous to name; Man himself hath built you all to hide away the stars -- Roof-tops, roof-tops, you hide ten million scars. Roof-tops, roof-tops, well I know you cover Many solemn tragedies and many a lonely lover; But ah, you hide the good that lives in the throbbing city -- Patient wives, and tenderness, forgiveness, faith, and pity. Roof-tops, roof-tops, this is what I wonder: You are thick as poisonous plants, thick the people under; Yet roofless, and homeless, and shelterless they roam, The driftwood of the town who have no roof-top and no home! Eye-Witness. [Ridgely Torrence] Down by the railroad in a green valley By dancing water, there he stayed awhile Singing, and three men with him, listeners, All tramps, all homeless reapers of the wind, Motionless now and while the song went on Transfigured into mages thronged with visions; There with the late light of the sunset on them And on clear water spinning from a spring Through little cones of sand dancing and fading, Close beside pine woods where a hermit thrush Cast, when love dazzled him, shadows of music That lengthened, fluting, through the singer's pauses While the sure earth rolled eastward bringing stars Over the singer and the men that listened There by the roadside, understanding all.