Spring in Sausalito

By Larry Clinton
As we enjoy another gorgeous (if parched!) spring here in Sausalito, here’s a poem celebrating the natural beauties of our town.  It was written by Marin poet D. Wooster Taylor in 1908.

Sausalito

I will tell a simple story
That a poet told to me,
Of a lofty promontory
Bending down to kiss the sea;
Where the houses seem like flowers
Peeking out beneath the trees,
And the sweetest natural bowers
Fling their perfume on the breeze;
Where the roadways wind, half hidden,
'Neath a net of evergreen,
And the hollyhock, unbidden,
Spreads its scarlet on the scene;
Where the rose and wild syringe
Bud and blossom on the slope,
And the evening sunsets linger
With the pink and heliotrope;
Where the fragrant oleander
In the terrace gardens grow
And you gaze from your veranda
On the snow-white yachts below;
'Where the wide-winged gulls are flying
In the ferry's silvery spray,
And you see the islands lying
Half asleep upon the bay;
Where a launch is proudly steaming
Near a mighty man-of-war,
And a fisherman is dreaming
Of his cottage on the shore;
"Where Mt. Tamalpais, terrific,
Holds the Fog King in his lair,
And the salt of the Pacific
Breathes its freshness on the air;
You have heard the poet's story:
Sausalito, that is you! Just a crown of natural glory
On a sea of azure blue.



Views like this from the old Alta Mira Hotel may have inspired poet D. WoosterTaylor.  
Photo courtesy of Sausalito Historical Society