Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | India: Elephanta, the Island | | Elephanta | | Nicholas Michell (1807–1880) |
| | (From Ruins of Many Lands)
BUT near Salsette a fairer island blooms, | |
| Where vassal winds do naught but waft perfumes; | |
| Where painted shells adorn the sea-worn cave, | |
| And stately palms are mirrored in the wave. | |
| So lone the hills, so green the tufted trees, | 5 |
| Such health and freshness in the musky breeze, | |
| So cool each glade, each grot within the isle, | |
| Ocean and sky all withering heat the while, | |
| It well might seem the small and bright domain | |
| Of Eastern fay, or nymph-queen of the main. | 10 |
| Land at the cove, and climb the bowery steep, | |
| Where rocks are clothed with moss, and rivulets weep; | |
| Then midway rest, to gaze around, below, | |
| And watch old ocean’s everlasting flow. | | | | |
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