Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard .

Where the wave tumbles;
Where the reef rumbles;
Where the sea sweeps
Under bending palm-branches,
Sliding its snow-white
And swift avalanches:
Where the sails pass
O'er an ocean of glass.
Or trail their dull anchors
Down in the sea-grass.

Where the hills smoulder;
Where the plains smoke;
Where the peaks shoulder
The clouds like a yoke;
Where the dear isle
Has a charm to beguile
As she lies in the lap
Of the seas that enfold her.

112

Where shadows falter;
Where the mist hovers
Like steam that covers
Some ancient altar.

Where the sky rests
On deep wooded crests;
Where the clouds lag;
Where the sun floats
His glittering motes
Swimming the rainbows
That girdle the crag.

Where the newcomer
In deathless summer
Dreams away troubles;
Where the grape blossoms
And blows its sweet bubbles;
Where the goats cry
From the hillside corral;
Where the fish leap
In the weedy canal—
In the hollow lagoon
With its waters forsaken;

113

Where the dawn struggles
With night for an hour,
Then breaks like a tropical
Bird from its bower.

Where from the long leaves
The fresh dew is shaken;
Where the wind sleeps
And where the birds waken.

University of Virginia Library

LAHAINA