Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.
Farewell to the Antilles
By Henry Howard Brownell (1820–1872)O
And from the high and rolling mast I watch it slowly fade.
Soon like a dream ’t will vanish,—and ah! what dreams have fled!
What feelings born in olden time are numbered with the dead!
What hopes have shed their sunshine that nevermore can be!
Since first that bright and sunny shore rose o’er the tropic sea.
A thousand thoughts are thronging o’er memory’s faded track,
A thousand voices of the Past still seem to call me back,
Still dreams are clinging round me that now ’t were vain to tell—
Farewell, ye green savannas!—ye waving palms, farewell!
And fare thee well, my bonny steed, so trusty and so true.
Farewell the merry moonlight, that once so sweetly played
On those who roved together ’neath the Faurestina’s shade!
Farewell, each kind familiar face,—each comrade true and tried!
And thou!—once dearer to my heart than all the world beside!