Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.

West Indies: Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz

By Sarah Bridges Stebbins

SWEEP down to the sea, O ye silent hills,

Forever green and bright,

With palms on your breasts like heavenly hosts,

Clothed in your robes of light!

Sweep up to the shore, O malachite waves,

Rippling, tinted, and deep!

On ocean and hills, O tropical sun,

In glowing splendor sleep!

Ah! so far away is the shining sand

Where low, white breakers curl,

Where lovely and still lies the quiet isle,

Like emerald set in pearl!

Ah! so far away; yet here in my heart,

As on that Southern Sea,

This beautiful isle rests soft and real,—

Canaan of memory!

The waters may roll o’er measureless miles;

The land lie long between

That isle and this self over whom gray skies

Of Northern winter lean;

But the spirit is free and knows not space;

Dreams draw the distant near;

I soar o’er that sea, I roam on those hills,

And see their glory here!