Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PAGO-PAGO, by ARTHUR PETERSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PAGO-PAGO, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The pea-green wave where bright-blue fishes / swim
Last Line: The fabric of a fitly-ordered state.
Subject(s): Samoa


1

The pea-green wave where bright-blue fishes swim,
And o'er whose surface glides the rude canoe
Of Tutuilian voyager to and fro;
The line of tufted palm-trees on the beach,
Bearing, each one, its milky cocoa-nuts;
The densely-wooded mountain-side behind,
Rising, in leafy masses, to the sky;
This is far Pago-Pago's tropic bay.
A mighty amphitheatre, whose ring
Is ocean, and whose sides a mountain-wall.
I see it now, and hear, as in a dream,
The murmur of the surf upon the sand.

2

No more the rolling deck, when from the sky
Descends the whirlwind, and the cruel sea
Joins hands with it for havoc; but instead
Firm land and fair; the forest's fragrant breath;
The twittering of the birds at dawn; the sun,
With golden feet upon the mountain-top,
Pouring his light o'er woodlands tropical;
The moon upon the silent palms by night!

3

How sweet to mariners this green-clad earth
After long weeks upon the salty deep!
How sweet this rest upon the mountain-side,
'Midst trees and flowers and music-making birds,
After the toils and vigils of the sea!
E'en like delights celestial to the heart
Of him who leaves the troubles of the world,
And wakes to find his soul in Paradise!

4

Here dwells a sylvan and a kindly race,
Savage yet docile; and methinks 'twould be
A life-task meet for one of us, who hold
The fruits of busy centuries in our hands,
To feed from our full store this primal man,
To rule him with a guiding arm yet strong,
And, with the years, from chaos to construct
The fabric of a fitly-ordered state.





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