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

West Indies: Cuba, the Island

Cuba

By Epes Sargent (1813–1880)

WHAT sounds arouse me from my slumbers light?

“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.