Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
III. Tropical WeatherEpes Sargent (18131880)
N
Here Summer holdeth a perpetual reign:
How flash the waters in their bounding glee!
The sky’s soft purple is without a stain!
Full in our wake the smooth, warm trade-winds, blowing,
To their unvarying goal still faithful run!
And as we steer, with sails before them flowing,
Nearer the zenith daily climbs the sun.
The startled flying-fish around us skim,
Glossed, like the humming-bird, with rainbow dyes;
And, as they dip into the water’s brim,
Swift in pursuit the preying dolphin hies.
All, all is fair; and, gazing round, we feel
Over the yielding sense the torrid languor steal.