Hart Crane to his mother May 1924
I am told that this section
of Brooklyn Heights
is very much like London
Certainly it is very quiet and charming,
with its many old houses
all a little different
and with occasional trees
jutting up an early green
through the pavements
I have just come back from breakfast
and saw some tulips
dotting the edge of one of several
beautiful garden patches
that edge the embankment
that leads down to the river.
It certainly is refreshing
to live in such a neighborhood
and even though I should not succeed
in acquiring a room that actually
commands the harbor view
I think I shall always want to live
in this section anyway
A friend who has such a back room
in this house has invited me
to use his room whenever he is out
and the other evening
the view from his window
was one never to be forgotten
Every time one looks at the harbor
and the NY skyline across the river
it is quite different and the range
of atmospheric effects is endless
But at twilight on a foggy evening
such as it was at this time
it is beyond description.
Gradually the lights
in the enormously tall buildings
begin to flicker through the mist
There was a great cloud
enveloping the top
of the Woolworth tower
while below in the river
were streaming reflections
of myriad lights
continually being crossed
by the twinkling mast and deck lights
of little tugs scudding along
freight rafts and occasional liners
starting outward
Look far to your left
toward Staten Island and there
is the Statue of Liberty
with that remarkable lamp of hers
that makes her seen for miles
And up at the right
Brooklyn Bridge
the most superb piece of construction
in the modern world I’m sure,
with strings of light crossing it
like glowing worms
as the L’s and surface cars
pass each other
going and coming
johnjosephlyons 