I saw wild domes and bowers <br />And smoking incense towers <br />And mad exotic flowers <br />In Illinois. <br />Where ragged ditches ran <br />Now springs of Heaven began <br />Celestial drink for man <br />In Illinois. <br /> <br />There stood beside the town <br />Beneath its incense-crown <br />An angel and a clown <br />In Illinois. <br />He was as Clowns are: <br />She was snow and star <br />With eyes that looked afar <br />In Illinois. <br /> <br />I asked, "How came this place <br />Of antique Asian grace <br />Amid our callow race <br />In Illinois?" <br />Said Clown and Angel fair: <br />"By laughter and by prayer, <br />By casting off all care <br />In Illinois."<br /><br />Vachel Lindsay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-angel-and-the-clown/
