Here by the salt lagoons, the wild fowl's haunt:
Where red flamingoes and the white swans sweep,
Where the tall water oaks their branches droop,
And green magnolias hem the currents deep;
Beneath the tufted groves that fringe the stream,
Where lilies bloom and crimson roses gleam;
Here where the mangrove-isles, like emerald gems,
The glassy surface of the seas inlay,
The angler comes with swinging rod and line
To seek the pastimes of his holiday.
O sumptuous region! the Creator's hand
Has sown so prodigal with floral blooms,
There is no paradise on earth so fair,
So rich with flowery charms and rare perfumes
Here the great tarpon, armor'd with bright scales
Like plated cuirass of the burnish'd steel,
The swift cavalle and the channel bass
Dart thro' the deeps and o'er the eddies wheel.
By sandy beach or o'er the reedy marsh,
Where curlews whistle and the plovers cry,
For mangrove snapper and pompano rare
We cast the humming line and feather'd fly;
And lure the grouper from the cavern'd deeps,
The spot and sea trout in their flashing leaps.
We love to tread the broad Savannah's space,
The groves where oranges their globes display
Beneath whose vaulted roofs the smilax twines,
Hydrangeas lift the rosy-tinted spray,
Dahlias and asters and the starry phlox
Blossom perennial in the tropic air;
And all the colors that boon Nature loves
Enchanting bloom, luxuriant and fair.