Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/72

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THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE

In through the Golden Gate
The stately vessels come,
Cheering the ones who watch and wait
'Till their faithful ships come home.
A speck in the distant blue,
A glimpse of a flashing sail
Or a steamer ploughing the waters through
And facing the freshened gale.
One by one they come,
Some early and others late;
But all to be anchored safe at home
Inside of the Golden Gate.

From the Orient ports they come,
From the islands of the sea,
Ploughing their way through the crested foam
To the waves' wild melody;
While, close in their pathless way,
The gulls from their rude cliff-nests
Flap their wings in the driven spray
And bathe in the foam, their breasts.
Flags on the sea-breeze chill
Streaming their colors wide,
Splashing of waves when storms are still
On the rising and ebbing tide;
Vessels from foreign lands,
Steamers from distant climes,
Rock in their cradle of silver sands
To the wild waves' rolling rhymes.
Side by side in the blue
Of the dimpling waves at play,
As up to the busy wharf they drew
From the golden gate of the bay.

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