The City By the Sea -- San Francisco

By George Sterling

At the end of our streets is sunrise;

At the end of our streets are spars;
At the end of our streets is sunset;

At the end of our streets the stars.

Ever the winds of morning

Are cool from the flashing sea--
Flowing swift from our ocean,

Till the fog-dunes crumble and flee.

Slender spars in the offing,

Mast and yard in the slips--
How they tell on the azure

Of the sea-contending ships!

Homeward into the sunset

Sill unwearied we go,
Till the northern hills are misty

With the amber of afterglow.

Stars that sink to our ocean,

Winds that visit our strand,
The heavens are your pathway,

Where is a gladder land!

At the end of our streets is sunrise;

At the end of our streets are spars;
At the end of our streets is sunset;

At the end of our streets the stars.

Other Texts by George Sterling

• A Wine of Wizardry (poem)
• The Cool, Grey City of Love (poem)
• Preface to Clark Ashton Smith's Ebony and Crystal (1922) (essay)
• The Testimony of the Suns (poem)