The Land of Enchantment: From Pike's Peak to the Pacific

by Lilian Whiting

Of time and death and change;

Eternity doth summon me—

With mightier worlds I range.

Come, for my vision's glory

Awaits your songs and wings;

Here on my breast I bid ye rest

From starry wanderings."

Harriet Monroe

One takes the wings of the morning and arrives at the uttermost parts of the earth to find—the Grand Cañon, the scenic marvel of the entire world.

Only to the poet's vision is the Grand Cañon revealed; only to the poet's touch do its mighty harmonies respond. For this sublime spectacle is as vital as a drama enacted on the stage, only its acts require the centuries and the ages in which to represent themselves. Whatever one sees of the Grand Cañon,—it matters not from what commanding view of vision or vista, one sees only an infinitesimal point. It is the Carnival of the Gods. "Prophets and poets had wandered here," writes Harriet Monroe, "before they were born to tell their mighty tales,—Isaiah and Æschylus and Dante, the giants who dared the utmost. Here at last the souls of great architects must find their dreams fulfilled; must recognize the primal inspiration which, after long ages, had achieved Assyrian palaces, the temples and pyramids of Egypt, the fortresses and towered cathedrals of mediæval Europe. For the inscrutable Prince of builders had reared these imperishable monuments, evenly terraced upward from the remote abyss; had so cunningly planned them that mortal foot could never climb and enter to disturb the everlasting hush. Of all richest elements they were fashioned,—jasper and chalcedony, topaz, beryl, and amethyst, fire-hearted opal, and pearl; for they caught and held the most delicate colors of a dream and flashed full recognition to the sun. Never on earth could such glory be unveiled,—not on level spaces of sea, not on the cold bare peaks of mountains. This was not earth; for was not heaven itself across there, rising above yonder alabaster marge in opalescent ranks for the principalities and powers?... In a moment we stood at the end of the world, at the brink of the kingdoms of peace and pain. The gorgeous purples of sunset fell into darkness and rose into light over mansions colossal beyond the needs of our puny unwinged race. Terrific abysses yawned and darkened; magical heights glowed with iridescent fire."