Thee will I worship henceforth in appreciative humility;
Luxurious and splendid and urban, glorious and gaslit and gracious,
Gathering from every land thy gay and ephemeral tenantry,
From the Greek who hails thee “Thalatta!” to the rustic who murmurs “My golly!”
From the Bowery youth who requests his sweetheart to “Look at them billers!”
To the Gaul whom thy laughing waves almost persuade to immersion.
O Coney Island, thou art the weary citizen’s heaven—
A heaven to dine, not die in, joyful and restful and clamful.
Better one hour of thee than an age of Atlantic City!
H. C. Bunner.