Panama and Other Poems Narrative and Occasional :: :: University of Virginia Library

Return, King Emperor, into the West,
And leave the glittering East, the golden domes,
The sparkling spires, and glorying cities white,
Tribes in full gaze of Phœbus and aspects
Into a dimness kissed by splendid suns;
Magnificence of emeralds and pearls.
For now the paler West hath need of thee,
Although thou'lt hither step out of the East,
Blind as from sunlight to a darkened room,
And for a moment feel with doubtful hands,
Until the dim familiar home again
Grows round thee, dearer unto dazzled eyes.
Meantime thy Orient not in silence leave,
But like to one that waves a wise farewell,
Fading upon the limit of the seas,
Bequeath, O King, unto that Indian orb
Of brilliance supine, the watchword “Hope.”