The Golden City of St Mary
Out beyond the sunset could I but find the way,
Is a sleepy blue laguna which widens to a bay,
And there's the Blessed City &mdash so the sailors say &mdash
The Golden City of St. Mary.
It's built of fair marble &mdash white &mdash without a stain,
And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane
The bells chime faintly, like a soft warm rain,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
Among the green palm-trees where the fire-flies shine,
Are the white tavern tables where the gallants dine,
Singing slow Spanish songs like old mulled wine,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
Oh I'll be shipping sunset-wards and westward-ho
Through the green topping combers a-shattering into snow,
Till I come to quiet moorings and a watch below,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
From Salt-Water Poems & Ballads, by John Masefield, published by The MacMillam Publishing Co., NY, © 1921, p. 53.The "Golden City of St. Mary" was also known by sailors as "Fiddlers Green," while nautical poet Cicely Fox Smith refered to it as "Port o' Dreams."The header graphic is by Charles Pears and was used to illustrate the poem in Salt-Water Poems & Ballads.Charley Noble
