Pacific Coast -
by Cicely Fox Smith
1882-1954, written in 1920
I found this poem in my 1937 Junior Reciter's Repertory, along with Lavender Pond and London Seagulls, both by Cicely Fox Smith. I thought this would fit nicely in the Pacific Territory Page with its connection to British Columbia.
OCEANIA - PACIFIC TERRITORIES:
Once again I must thank the following link, to which I am a member for the help in placing this wonderful picture and poem description.
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/41673-Cicely-Fox-Smith-Pacific-Coast
Half across the world to westward there's a harbour that I know,
Where the ships that load with lumber and the China liners go, —
Where the wind blows cold at sunset off the snow-crowned peaks that gleam
Out across the Straits at twilight like the landfall of a dream.
There's a sound of foreign voices — there are wafts of strange perfume —
And a two-stringed fiddle playing somewhere in an upstairs room;
There's a rosy tide lap-lapping on an old worm-eaten quay,
And a scarlet sunset flaming down behind the China Sea.
And I daresay if I went there I should find it all the same,
Still the same old sunset glory setting all the skies aflame,
Still the smell of burning forests on the quiet evening air, —
Little things my heart remembers nowhere else on earth but there.
Still the harbour gulls a-calling, calling all the night and day,
And the wind across the water singing just the same old way
As it used to in the rigging of a ship I used to know
Half across the world from England, many and many a year ago.
She is gone beyond my finding - dash gone forever, ship and man,
Far beyond that scarlet sunset flaming down behind Japan;
But I'll maybe find the dream there that I lost so long ago —
Half across the world to westward in a harbour that I know —
Half across the world from England many and many a year ago.
And a two-stringed fiddle playing somewhere in an upstairs room;
There's a rosy tide lap-lapping on an old worm-eaten quay,
And a scarlet sunset flaming down behind the China Sea.
And I daresay if I went there I should find it all the same,
Still the same old sunset glory setting all the skies aflame,
Still the smell of burning forests on the quiet evening air, —
Little things my heart remembers nowhere else on earth but there.
Still the harbour gulls a-calling, calling all the night and day,
And the wind across the water singing just the same old way
As it used to in the rigging of a ship I used to know
Half across the world from England, many and many a year ago.
She is gone beyond my finding - dash gone forever, ship and man,
Far beyond that scarlet sunset flaming down behind Japan;
But I'll maybe find the dream there that I lost so long ago —
Half across the world to westward in a harbour that I know —
Half across the world from England many and many a year ago.
Notes
From SEA SONGS AND BALLADS 1917-22, edited by Cicely Fox Smith,published by Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, US, © 1924, pp. 96-97;
previously published in SHIPS AND FOLKS, © 1920, pp. 65-66.
This poem describes the poet's nostalgic feelings after leaving the
Pacific Northwest and returning to England, as she thinks back on her
9-year residency in and around Victoria, British Columbia.
The header graphic is a photo showing Victoria Harbour, circa 1900, with
the floating boathouse of the Victoria Yacht Club with small sailing
craft in front. The old Customs House is behind (and still survives);
there are also some sealing schooners drying sails while lying stern to
the wharves.
Charley Noble
