Birthday of Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was born on January 24, 1862. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.

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.

An Autumn Sunset, a painting by yours truly, Mona Curtis.

Advertisement