MOLOKAI
[One of the Hawaiian Islands where the lepers are confined.]
I.
An island at anchor in blue-bosomed seas
Is evermore haunting my soul like a dream,
And the mystical grace of the slender palm-trees,
That lift their light plumes in the indolent breeze,
Recurs in my thought, like the strange thread of gold
That ran in the woof of the weaver of old;
And still shadows lengthen and smooth billows gleam.
Is evermore haunting my soul like a dream,
And the mystical grace of the slender palm-trees,
That lift their light plumes in the indolent breeze,
Recurs in my thought, like the strange thread of gold
That ran in the woof of the weaver of old;
And still shadows lengthen and smooth billows gleam.
II.
Gray peaks that were tossed in the torture of fire
Stand bare in the sun, and heroic with scars
And sculptures of battle, and anguish and ire,
That say in derision, "Be strong and aspire!"
Bright seas, bitter-hearted, strike wild on the shore
And sing their old anthem, "Deplore and deplore
For all that is sorrowful under the stars!"
Stand bare in the sun, and heroic with scars
And sculptures of battle, and anguish and ire,
That say in derision, "Be strong and aspire!"
Bright seas, bitter-hearted, strike wild on the shore
And sing their old anthem, "Deplore and deplore
For all that is sorrowful under the stars!"
III.
And touched by the moonlight, their sad faces glow,
While low, like the wail of the wind in the pines,
Their fitful songs quiver, and broken and slow,
Seem lost in the beat of the surges below;
While low, like the wail of the wind in the pines,
Their fitful songs quiver, and broken and slow,
Seem lost in the beat of the surges below;
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