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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


APRIL AFTERNOON, POINT LOMA (1769) by WINIFRED DAVIDSON

First Line: THERE FEASTED ON THESE HEIGHTS WILD EARTH-HUED FOLK
Last Line: SWEPT DOWN LA PLAYA WHERE AWED INDIANS KNELT.
Subject(s): AFTERNOON; APRIL; SHIPS & SHIPPING;

There feasted on these heights wild earth-hued folk,
Scoffing I know, and jesting in the sun.
"A whale, a mighty, a prodigious one
Approaches!" mockers cried. Out of thin smoke,
Far, arching high into the sky there broke
Strange rotund shapes of Spanish sails, gray . . . dun,
The @3San Antonio@1, Christ's galleon,
Now raised Point Loma, now Guijarros woke.

What fear! The black sun hung within a veil;
The headland rocked, and those Coahuillas felt
Vague dread, the while crazed seabirds' rising wail
Made savage laughter into terror melt.
The ship of God heaved to; prayer like a gale
Swept down La Playa where awed Indians knelt.



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