In which stanza of the poem in Selection 2 does the narrator’s tone shift to convey excitement?


A)1st stanza


B)2nd stanza


C)4th stanza


D)5th stanza

(the poem


I gaze out the tour bus window at an ancient land.

The green fields could tell tales of centuries past.

Snaking rivers have chased their own tails and shed their blue skins

But are here for now.


5 I see a grove of trees sway slightly in the soft wind ahead.

Branches mime silent secrets beyond the window.

Shades of leaves have bloomed and faded and fallen again

But are here for now.


I look at a town of rubble beyond the passing trees.

10 Broken bricks and shattered shingles lie in a crisp grid of ruin.

This ancient village has prospered and faded, now felled by the axe of progress,

But is here for now.


It looks as if trees were planted to obscure the past.
These walls of leaves hide houses in pieces.
15 Someone wants to forget this short breath of history that has come and drifted onward

But is here for now.

Ahead a city gleams, a new horizon on ancient land.

Miles of glass and steel that speak at night with endless light.

A great future has arrived—an immovable age!

20 A permanent page in humanity’s tome of tales!—

But it is really only here for now.