The book of earth

by Alfred Noyes

I—THE BOOK OF EARTH

I
The Grand Canyon

Let the stars fade. Open the Book of Earth.

Out of the Painted Desert, in broad noon,

Walking through pine-clad bluffs, in an air like wine,

I came to the dreadful brink.

I saw, with a swimming brain, the solid earth

Splitting apart, into two hemispheres,

Cleft, as though by the axe of an angry god.

On the brink of the Grand Canyon,