Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79. | | | | West Indies: Cuba, the Island | | Cuba | | John Townsend Trowbridge (1827–1916) |
| | (From Guy Vernon)
CUBA seems | |
| The later western Eden of our planet. | |
| What wafted incense from the gate of dreams, | |
| What heavenly zephyrs hover o’er and fan it! | |
| With groves of orange, mango, and pomegranate, | 5 |
| And flowering forests through whose wealth of blooms, | |
| Like living fires, dart birds of gorgeous plumes. | |
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| There by still bays the tall flamingo stands; | |
| The sunrise flame of whose reflected form | |
| Crimsons the glassy wave and glistening sands. | 10 |
| There, large and luminous, throughout the warm, | |
| Soft summer eves myriads of fireflies swarm; | |
| Like the bright spirits of departed flowers | |
| Nightly revisiting their native bowers. | |
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| Its own rich, varying world the isle enfolds; | 15 |
| Where glowing Nature seems most prodigal | |
| Of life and beauty; where the eye beholds | |
| Orchards that blossom while their ripe fruits fall; | |
| Mountains, refulgent vales; and, curved round all, | |
| From some palm-crested summit seen afar, | 20 |
| The gleaming ocean’s steel-bright scimitar. * * * * * | | | | |
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