William Ellery Leonard

THE ISLAND city of dominion stands,

Crowned with all turrets, o’er the waters’ crest,

Throned, like the bright Cybéle of the West,

And hailed with cymbals in a million hands

Around here; yet serenely she commands

The inland vision and the ocean quest,

The new-born mistress of the world’s unrest,

The beauty and the terror of the lands.

She sees the fields of harvest sown for her,

She sees the fortress set beside her gate,

Her hosts, her ships, she sees through storm and fire;

And hers all gifts of gold and spice and myrrh,

And hers all hopes, all hills and shores of fate,

And hers the fame of Babylon and Tyre.