Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/163

KENNST DU? Cool and green, save for the lines

Of yellow cocoa-trunks that lean,

Each in its own wind-nurtured way,

And bend their fronds to the wanton vines

Beneath them all astray?

Here is no mangrove warp-and-woof

From which a vapor lifts aloof,

But on the beaches smooth and dry

Red-lipped conch-shells lie—

Even at the edge of that green wall

Where the shore-grape's tendriled runners spread

And purple trumpet-creepers fall,

And the frangipani's clusters shed

Their starry sweets withal.

The silly cactuses writhe around,

Yet cannot choose but in grace to mingle,

This side the twittering waters sound,

On the other opens a low green dingle,

And between your ship and the shore and sky

The frigate-birds like fates appear,

The flapping pelican feeds about,

The tufted cardinals sing and fly.

So fair the shore, one has no fear;

And the sailors, gathered forward, shout

With strange glad voices each to each,—

Though well the harbor's depth they know 143