Twilight at the Heights
Joaquin Miller
The brave young city by the Balboa seas
Lies compassed about by the hosts of night-
Lies humming, low, like a hive of bees;
And the day lies dead. And its spirit's flight
Is far to the west; while the golden bars
That bound it are broken to a dust of stars.
Come under my oaks, oh, drowsy dusk!
The wolf and the dog; dear incense hour
When Mother Earth hath a smell of musk,
And things of the spirit assert their power-
When candles are set to burn in the west-
Set head and foot to the day at rest.
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was a Spanish conquistador who in 1513 became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean.
The Heights refers to Milller's home in the hills above Oakland, which he also called the "Hights". The brave young city on the Pacific is San Francisco across the bay.
