Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.
The Outlook from Santa Cruz
By Sarah Bridges StebbinsT
The weary ships with haven won;
Encompassed by the purple waves
Beneath the brilliant tropic sun!
At last upon the summer sea,
Untossed, at rest, they quiet lie;
In idle case, scarce darkened o’er
By fleecy clouds in azure sky!
A white-sailed sloop speeds far from sight,
Like some glad bird whose outspread wings
Cleave straight into the realms of light!
It leaves behind the fair, green isle,
The waters rosy on the reef,
To seek a shore, o’er ocean gray,
Where Winter withers bud and leaf!
Now sheltered safe in harbor calm,
We too repose through glowing days
Beneath the shadow of the palm!
But ah! our thoughts are like the bark
That sweeps across the sounding main!
Love wafted from bright, softer clime
To our own land of cold and rain!