Classic Poem

Far out to sea the home-bound seabirds wing,
Dim in brief twilight of the tropic day;
Then, one by one, lights of the city swing
A sparkling semicircle round the bay.

Above me, from its broad-leaved sheath of green,
A great banana hangs its purple husk;
Beside me, like a seraph half unseen,
An odorous oleander haunts the dusk.

The moon seems fallen from her throne on high,
So clear and close she comes to earthly view,
And in the blue corolla of the sky
Canopus quivers like a drop of dew.

A-thrill with passion, pierced with bliss and pain,
A light guitar obeys a lover's hands,
And pours a fervid and heart-broken strain,
Now sweet, now bitter, from its trembling strands.

O, lovelorn youth, your dark-brown liquid eyes
Need sweet caresses of the dews of sleep:
Your lips were made for laughter, not for sighs;
Youth comes to gladden, not to make you weep!

Youth's wild young feet were made to dance for joy;
Youth's sweet wild heart was made to leap with bliss;
O revel in your glory, splendid boy,
For all the world is craving for your kiss!

In Cuban skies, the palm's imperial crest
Lifts plumes forever free from winter snows;
No frost shall ever blight the lily's breast,
Nor dim the glory of the ardent rose.

Remember, while that flower is free from frost,
That bud forever free from winter blight,
Youth, once escaping, is forever lost,
His feet have wings more swift than swallows' flight!