"The Sea of Sunset"
This is the land the sunset washes,
These are the banks of the Yellow Sea;
Where it rose, or wither it rushes,
These are the Western mystery!
Night after her purple traffic
Strews the landing with opal bales;
Merchantmen poise upon horizons,
Dip, and vanish with fairy sails.
This poem creates a vivid image of the sunset so perfectly one could picture it through these words without ever having seen one. The way the first line describes how the radiant sun washes over all the land during a sunset, in which nothing escapes it. The way the sunset rushes upon us and no one ever realizes when its began until after the fact and how the bumper to bumper hues of purple create an almost traffic-like ongoing feature that is crucial to its identity. These variations in color against the sky only serve to create a beauty no abstract painting ever could; taking you higher, leaving you breathless and summoning this inner peace.
The beauty of the imagination is amazing! To be able to see the poem in your head from words written so long ago is an accomplishment of great proportions for the author. I can see it disappear into the horizon and vanish.
Exactly. While reading this poem I felt as though I was sitting at Hawk's Nest (lookout spot on St. Thomas, VI) watching the sunset.