Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79.
Lahaina
By Charles Warren Stoddard (18431909)W
Where the reef rumbles;
Where the sea sweeps
Under bending palm-branches,
Sliding its snow-white
And swift avalanches;
Where the sails pass
O’er an ocean of glass,
Or trail their dull anchors
Down in the sea-grass.
Where the plains smoke;
Where the peaks shoulder
The clouds like a yoke;
Where the dear isle
Has a charm to beguile
As she rests in the lap
Of the seas that enfold her.
Where the mist hovers
Like steam that covers
Some ancient altar.
Where the sky rests
On deep wooded crests;
Where the clouds lag,—
Where the sun floats
His glittering moats,
Swimming the rainbows
That girdle the crag.
In deathless summer
Dreams away troubles;
Where the grape blossoms
And blows its sweet bubbles.
From the hillside corral;
Where the fish leap
In the weedy canal,—
In the shallow lagoon
With its waters forsaken,—
Where the dawn struggles
With night for an hour,
Then breaks like a tropical
Bird from its bower.
The fresh dew is shaken;
Where the wind sleeps
And where the birds waken!