The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/Avalon

by Jonathan E. Hoag

Avalon

O Avalon, fair Avalon,
  Bride of the deep blue sea,
About thee pass quaint barks of glass
  To solve thy mystery!
Upon thy briny waves they ride
  About thy rocky shore;
And travelers view the bottom through
  Wonders of ocean's floor.
Down in thy waters, deep and warm,
  Strange magic blossoms grow,
From higher clime by sportive Time
  Cast to the gulfs below.
From craggy heights of hoary stone
  The questing sight may spy
A mighty sweep where azure deep
  Joins with the azure sky.
Whence earnest thou, gray island peak;
  Whence earnest thou, and when?
Didst spring of old from Vulcan's fold,
  His chosen comrade then?
Did thy young eyes behold above
  The vault we know today,
Or did strange lights illume the nights
  With many a cryptic ray?
What mystic subterranean powers
  Raised thee so tall and proud?
Did Vulcan's horde the aid afford,
  'Mid tumults wild and loud?
Thus torn in fire from ancient earth
  And thrust amidst the blue,
Thy sides must e'er sustain the wear
  Of Neptune's boisterous crew.
And now upon thy towering heights
  We sit transfixed, enthralled!
Here the Muse wakes, and silence breaks,
  By dreamy Nature called.
Behold the distant white-winged ships
  That o'er the waters glide;
And spouting whales that breast the gales
  And love the heaving tide!
Could we but draw the primal scene,
  When first this rock arose;
When new-born skies turned sightless eyes
  On pathless, lone repose!
Hail Catalina's lovely clime!
  Where Nature's every grace
Our eager view beneath the blue
  In ecstacy can trace!

O Avalon, Fair Avalon,
  Pearl in the ocean pale;
Thy memories stay, though far away
  Our barks reluctant sail.

1920