Classic Poem

A violet ocean and a violet sky;
A glistening beach of red and yellow sands;
A promontory where one palm-tree stands;
Green orange groves, gold-fruited, far and nigh;
Here clumps of cocoanuts soar to the sky,
Here spread the sugar and tobacco lands;
Here, deftly tilled by swarthy negro hands,
Pineapple fields in burning sunshine lie.

Ah, what relief, should summer pass away,
And bring this gorgeous pageant to a close!
Once more to see a dark November day
Shake down his dead leaves while the north wind blows!
Once more to see December, cold and gray,
From leaden clouds sweep swirls of fluttering snows!