Little Reviews: Poem for Monday and Star Spangled Bicentennial

The Clouded Morning
By Jones Very

The morning comes, and thickening clouds prevail,
    Hanging like curtains all the horizon round,
Or overhead in heavy stillness sail;
    So still is day, it seems like night profound;
Scarce by the city's din the air is stirred,
    And dull and deadened comes its every sound;
The cock's shrill, piercing voice subdued is heard,
    By the thick folds of muffling vapors drowned.
Dissolved in mists the hills and trees appear,
    Their outlines lost and blended with the sky;
And well-known objects, that to all are near,
    No longer seem familiar to the eye,
But with fantastic forms they mock the sight,
As when we grope amid the gloom of night.

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I am back and quite sunburned from a lovely day in Baltimore with Paul and Denise at the Star Spangled Spectacular, celebrating the end of the War of 1812 and composition of the Star Spangled Banner, written in a boat off Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore (which we saw reenacted by bands at the Terrapins game on Saturday). We didn't board the biggest ships, which had hour-plus long lines, but we went on several schooners and a couple of clippers, and we walked around the gorgeous naval vessels and watched the Blue Angels performing over the harbor.

The festival had lots of nice giveaways from national parks collectibles to War of 1812 pins, plus guides to Maryland historical sites and waterways. We walked to and from the Inner Harbor past Camden Yards and through Denise's neighborhood, which has fabulous restored houses and lots of cats including her two. Though the music-and-fireworks show was broadcast on public television on Saturday night, we didn't get to see it until Sunday when we got home (and the Orioles did not play the Yankees until evening, though I am delighted to report that they won).