The Hunter

“But there was one land he dared not enter.”

Beyond the blue, the purple seas,
Beyond the thin horizon’s line,
Beyond Antilla, Hebrides,
Jamaica, Cuba, Caribbees,
There lies the land of Yucatan.

The land, the land of Yucatan,
The low coast breaking into foam,
The dim hills where my thoughts shall roam
The forests of my boyhood’s home,
The splendid dream of Yucatan!

I met thee first long, long ago
Turning a printed page, and I
Stared at a world I did not know
And felt my blood like fire flow
At that strange name of Yucatan.

O those sweet, far-off Austral days
When life had a diviner glow,
When hot Suns whipped my blood to know
Things all unseen, then I could go
Into thy heart O Yucatan!

I have forgotten what I saw,
I have forgotten what I knew,
And many lands I’ve set sail for
To find that marvellous spell of yore,
Never to set foot on thy shore
O haunting land of Yucatan!

But sailing I have passed thee by,
And leaning on the white ship’s rail
Watched thy dim hills till mystery
Wrapped thy far stillness close to me
And I have breathed ”tis Yucatan!

”Tis Yucatan, ’tis Yucatan!’
The ship is sailing far away,
The coast recedes, the dim hills fade,
A bubble-winding track we’ve made,
And thou’rt a Dream O Yucatan!