The City Poem by Virginia Welch

As an understudy in a play
Calmly waits in the wings
For her hour on the stage,
This metropolis on the bluffs
Above the wide Missouri
prepares for her time of greatness.
She knows her part well,
From her past, she has learned:
Generosity from her first Americans,
Compassion from her courageous pioneers,
Humility from those ancient cities
That rose to great heights only to fall.
Destiny decrees that she will play her role
As a great city of the universe.