January 24, 2017

Edith Wharton was born on January 24, 1862. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for The Age of Innocence.

An Autumn Sunset
By Edith Wharton

I

Leaguered in fire
The wild black promontories of the coast extend
Their savage silhouettes;
The sun in universal carnage sets,
And, halting higher,
The motionless storm-clouds mass their sullen threats,
Like an advancing mob in sword-points penned,
That, balked, yet stands at bay.
Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day
In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline,
A wan Valkyrie whose wide pinions shine
Across the ensanguined ruins of the fray,
And in her hand swings high o’erhead,
Above the waster of war,
The silver torch-light of the evening star
Wherewith to search the faces of the dead.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Autumn-Sunset/15842/2848262/view

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