Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | India: Malabar | | Malabar | | William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
| | (From The Spirit of Discovery by Sea)
NIGHT after night the heavens’ still cope, | |
| That glows with stars, they watch, till morning bears | |
| Airs of sweet fragrance o’er the yellow tide; | |
| Then Malabar her green declivities | |
| Hangs beauteous, beaming to the eye afar | 5 |
| Like scenes of pictured bliss, the shadowy land | |
| Of soft enchantment. Now Salmala’s peak | |
| Shines high in air, and Ceylon’s dark green woods | |
| Beneath are spread; while as the strangers wind | |
| Along the curving shores, sounds of delight | 10 |
| Are heard; and birds of richest plumage, red | |
| And yellow, glance along the shades; or fly | |
| With morning twitter, circling o’er the mast, | |
| As singing welcome to the weary crew. | |
| Here rest, till westering gales again invite. | 15 |
| Then o’er the line of level seas glide on, | |
| As the green deities of ocean guide, | |
| Till Ophir’s distant hills spring from the main, | |
| And their long labors cease. | | | | |
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