Home / George Pope Morris, Poems (1853), Project Gutenberg / Passage

The Dog-Star Rages (From Battery to Park) — George Pope Morris

George Pope Morris, Poems (1853), Project Gutenberg 102 words

[Poem] "The Dog-Star Rages" (also known as "From Battery to Park") by George Pope Morris (1840s-1850s). A humorous poem about New York City summer heat, ending with a plea for Croton water. The final stanza reads:

I'm weeping like the willow That droops in leaf and bough— Let Croton's sparkling billow Flow through the city now; And, as becomes her station, The muse will close her prayer: God save the Corporation! Long live the valiant Mayor!

The poem captures the civic importance of the Croton Aqueduct — even in a humorous summer poem, Croton water is the answer to New York's suffering.