Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

India: Elephanta, the Island

Elephanta

By Nicholas Michell (1807–1880)

(From Ruins of Many Lands)

BUT near Salsette a fairer island blooms,

Where vassal winds do naught but waft perfumes;

Where painted shells adorn the sea-worn cave,

And stately palms are mirrored in the wave.

So lone the hills, so green the tufted trees,

Such health and freshness in the musky breeze,

So cool each glade, each grot within the isle,

Ocean and sky all withering heat the while,

It well might seem the small and bright domain

Of Eastern fay, or nymph-queen of the main.

Land at the cove, and climb the bowery steep,

Where rocks are clothed with moss, and rivulets weep;

Then midway rest, to gaze around, below,

And watch old ocean’s everlasting flow.