Poems (Hoffman)/Through the Golden Gate
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 sailOr 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-nestsFlap 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.
Out from the Golden Gate One by one they go.Each to her fortune or her fate, What waits them who can know?Who can tell if they come Again o'er the harbor bar,Ploughing their way through the dashing foam In the light of sun or star?Who knows but that stately form In the distant blue, a speck,May lie ere the light of another morn In the whelming floods, a wreck?Lost! Lost! in the deep To the maddened waves a prey,Lost! Lost! where the caverns sleep In fathomless mystery;Or lured by the siren's song On merciless rocks to dash,To sink while the midnight shadows throng And severing timbers crash.
In through the Golden Gate In the twilight's deepening hush,Out through the Golden Gate In the morning's rosy flush;With the port of rest in view, O'er the perilous waves to ride,Sail the proud ships of our country true With the flag of our nation's pride,While close in their pathless way The gulls from their rude cliff-nestsFlap their wings in the driven spray And bathe in the foam their breasts;And the dark blue waves I love, In their aimless frolic reach For the shells in many a sheltered cove And the sunbeams on the beach;And another ocean spreads Her waste behind, before,Where the stern cliffs lift their fog-veiled heads And the wild waves laugh and roar.And I, in my tossing boat, Through the perilous waters, steerAnd strive through the foggy air to note Some sign of a haven near.Hark! 'tis the syren's song! Look! 'tis a hidden shoal!Dense and dark are the mists that throng To hide from my sight, my goal;Many a wreck I've passed. Lost! Lost! Shall I share their fate?O, to be safe with my anchor cast Inside of the Golden Gate!Where the everlasting hills All mansion-crowned, appear,And no dense fog veils and no damp wind chills The beautiful city, there;But where in that haven-home There are some who watch and waitFor each worn, storm-driven barque to come In through the Golden Gate.