Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.
Cuba
By Epes Sargent (18131880)W
“Land ho! all hands, ahoy!”—I ’m on the deck:
’T is early dawn: the day-star yet is bright;
A few white vapory bars the zenith fleck;
And lo! along the horizon, bold and high,
The purple hills of Cuba! Hail, all hail!
Isle of undying verdure, with thy sky
Of purest azure! Welcome, odorous gale!
O scene of life and joy! thou art arrayed
In hues of unimagined loveliness.
Sing louder, brave old mariner! and aid
My swelling heart its rapture to express;
For, from enchanted memory, nevermore
Shall fade this dawn sublime, this fair, resplendent shore.