The white stars cast their silver nets across eternal snows Where ice-lashed billows thunder on crests of emerald foam In that dim majestic splendor the Arctic twilight knows— But the bells of old San Gabriel call me home. I climb the glory-haunted hills that wandering Homer knew, Past ivory columns lifting against a sapphire dome, While ghostly Argive trumpets thrill across the burning blue— But the bells of old San Gabriel call me home. I follow Ponce de Leon where enchanted headlands rise And rainbow fire-lights quiver on coral reefs afoam, Where the Southern Cross rains glory from the purple-shrouded skies— But the bells of old San Gabriel call me home. Though my soul in reverent wonder greets new dawns on alien heights, Though earth's remotest spaces my questing footsteps roam, Though my dazzled senses gather a thousand strange delights— Still the bells of old San Gabriel call me home. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS by GREGORY I SONNET TO A CLAM by JOHN GODFREY SAXE THE SHIPMAN'S TALE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FOOT-PRINTS by ANNE MILLAY BREMER LAST WORDS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO ZEALOTS UPON THE &C. IN THE OATH by JOHN CLEVELAND LINES FROM A NOTEBOOK - OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1806 by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |