THE TROPICS.
Land of the Sun! where joyous green-robed Spring
And leaf-crowned Summer deck the Earth for ever;
No Winter stern their sweet embrace to sever
And numb to silence every living thing,
But bird and insect ever on the wing,
Flitting ’mid forest glades and tangled bowers,
While the life-giving orb’s effulgent beams
Through all the circling year call forth the flowers.
Here graceful palms, here luscious fruits have birth;
The fragrant coffee, life-sustaining rice,
Sweet canes, and wondrous gums, and odorous spice;
While Flora’s choicest treasures crowd the teeming earth.
Beside each cot the golden Orange stands,
And broad-leaved Plantain, pride of Tropic lands.