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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EL DORADO: A SONG, by CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY
First Line: Oh, the fields aflame with poppies
Last Line: All the west with bloom anew.
Subject(s): Nature; West (u.s.); Southwest; Pacific States
First Line: Oh, the fields aflame with poppies
Last Line: All the west with bloom anew.
Subject(s): Nature; West (u.s.); Southwest; Pacific States
Largius hic campos aether, et lumine vestit
Purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.
OH, THE fields aflame with poppies,
Buttercups and columbine!
Oh, the haze on glade and coppice,
Haunt of clematis and vine!
Slopes of green and skies propitious,
And the air a draft delicious,
One ethereal anodyne.
Oh, the sweet acacia flinging
Golden tassels to the breeze;
And the wild canaries singing
In and out the almond trees!
Spires of apricot and cherry—
Lanes of lilies—and the merry
Meadowlark upon the leas!
Oh, the purpling hills, the mountains,
Towns that hallow bight and bay,
Creeks and canyons, vales and fountains—
But to tell them is to pray!—
For their names fulfill the chorus
Of a thousand saints that o'er us
Swing their censers, night and day.
Oh, the sun, his chariot turning,
Hither wheels precipitate,
Royal bannered, westward—burning,
Glorifies the Golden Gate!—
Sinks behind the Farallones,
Where his trans-Elysian throne is,
Where he keeps nocturnal state.
Lo, the stars—a purer argent—
Furrow fields—a deeper blue!
And the city from the margent
Of the ocean leaps in view,
Climbs the hills of heaven untiring—
Lilies, poppies, flushing, firing
All the West with bloom anew.
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