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per.00119.006per.00119.006_cropped [FOR THE NEW YORK HERALD.]

A Prairie Sunset.1

Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, 
  emerald, fawn,
The earth's whole amplitude and nature's mul- 
 tiform power consigned for once to colors;
The light, the genial air possessed by them— 
  colors till now unknown,
No limit, confine—not the Western sky alone— 
  the high meridian—North, South, all,
Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows 
  to the last.
WALT WHITMAN.

Notes

1. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888). [back]

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