| |
| KNOWEST thou that isle of flowers, | |
| Where the softest breezes blow, | |
| And the Frost-king never spreadeth | |
| O’er the earth his pall of snow? | |
| |
| Where, like gray old marble vases, | 5 |
| Crowned with feathery turfs of green, | |
| Royal palm-trees rise majestic, | |
| With the cocoas in between? | |
| |
| Where the purple-sheathed banana | |
| Mingles with the sugar-cane, | 10 |
| And the fragrant coffee sheddeth | |
| Scarlet berries on the plain? | |
| |
| Where the guava-apple ripens, | |
| And zapotes, rough and brown, | |
| With the mamey and the mango, | 15 |
| Cast their luscious sweetness down? | |
| |
| Where whole fields of ripening anas | |
| With their fragrance load the breeze, | |
| And the golden orange glistens | |
| Mid the blossoms on the trees; | 20 |
| |
| And the ever green pomegranate | |
| Swings its coral flower-bells, | |
| When its ruby grains are bursting | |
| From their russet-colored shells? | |
| |
| ’T is the Queen of the Antilles, | 25 |
| Seated on her emerald throne, | |
| Crowned with ever-blooming flowers, | |
| And a beauty all her own. | |
| |
| With a grace that ’s truly regal | |
| Sits she in her lofty seat, | 30 |
| Watching o’er her subject islands | |
| In the ocean at her feet. | |
| |
| While its waters, blue as heaven, | |
| Laughing leap upon her breast, | |
| Where all nature ever seemeth | 35 |
| For a happy bridal drest. | |
| |
| Truly is it called Gan-Eden,— | |
| ’T is a garden of delight; | |
| But, alas, the serpent’s trailing | |
| O’er its beauty casts a blight. * * * * * | 40 |
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