 | Poems, original and translated |  |
OUR ISLAND HOME.
Though here no towering mountain-steep
Leaps, forest-crowned, to meet the sky;
Nor prairie, with majestic sweep,
Enchants the gazer's roaming eye,—
Leaps, forest-crowned, to meet the sky;
Nor prairie, with majestic sweep,
Enchants the gazer's roaming eye,—
Yet ocean's glittering garden-bed,
Summer and winter, cheers the sight:
Its rose, the sun, at noon flames red;
The moon, its lily, blooms by night.
Summer and winter, cheers the sight:
Its rose, the sun, at noon flames red;
The moon, its lily, blooms by night.
The white-winged ships, in fleet career,
Like sea-birds o'er the ocean skim;
They rise, glide on, and disappear
Behind the horizon's shadowy rim.
Like sea-birds o'er the ocean skim;
They rise, glide on, and disappear
Behind the horizon's shadowy rim.
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So sail the fleets of clouds; and so
Stars rise, and climb the heavens, and set,
Like human thoughts, that come and go—
Whence—whither—no man knoweth yet.
Stars rise, and climb the heavens, and set,
Like human thoughts, that come and go—
Whence—whither—no man knoweth yet.
Far onward sweeps the billowy main;
To meet it bends th' o'erarching sky:
Of God's vast being emblems twain;
Deep unto deep gives glad reply.
To meet it bends th' o'erarching sky:
Of God's vast being emblems twain;
Deep unto deep gives glad reply.
These open, each, a broad highway;
To endless realms the soul invite:
The trackless ocean-floor by day,
The star-lit stairs of heaven by night.
To endless realms the soul invite:
The trackless ocean-floor by day,
The star-lit stairs of heaven by night.
Oh, enviable lot! to dwell
Surrounded by the great-voiced sea,
Whose waves intone, with trumpet-swell,
The hymn of Law and Liberty!
Surrounded by the great-voiced sea,
Whose waves intone, with trumpet-swell,
The hymn of Law and Liberty!
| Poems, original and translated | |