Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

O monarchs, yes, beyond the sea,
My sight the far new world descries;
Let us be gone! “O come to me,
“Come and be blest!” the new world cries;
O monarchs, there for you is peace,
Release from hate, and care, and fear;
O sovereigns, let your doubtings cease!
Let us begone, O kings, from here!
I am not mad—no, monarchs, no;
On! to the glad new world we'll go.

Heed not your tinsell'd courtiers' sneers,
The doubts by priest and noble said!
I know they name me but with jeers;
I pass—they laugh and touch the head;
What though each lord with courtly air
Would bid you hold me as a fool,
O hear me! peace shall glad you there;
O'er happy realms you there shall rule;
I am not mad—no, courtiers, no;
On! to the glad new world we'll go.

Yes; let us go! upon the strand,
Rigg'd for the voyage, each galliot lies;
Soon shall we launch them from the land;
Ah, whence are those imploring cries!
“O go not—go not—heed not him!
“Seek not to cross the endless main!
“Dupes of a brainless madman's whim,
“Your homes you ne'er shall see again.”

337

We are not mad; no, people, no;
On! to the glad new world we'll go.

Yet still upon the affrighted air,
Come shrill-voiced prayer and frantic cry,
And still they shriek, “O sons, beware!
“O husbands, stay! you go to die;”
Around us, cling young child and wife,
And hardly will be torn away;
Their cry, “O dear to us as life,
“Stay, father dear! O husband, stay!”
We will not stay; no, dear ones, no;
On! to the fair new world we'll go.

Hurrah! the old world fades behind;
Upon our voyage we speed at last;
Be calm, O sea! blow fair, O wind!
Ah, friends, what means yon floating mast!
Does it not tell some fearful tale
Of dangers that our course await,
Of some, before us doom'd to fail,
Despair and wreck and death their fate!
And shall this stay us, brothers? No;
On! to the glad new world we'll go.

Out in mid-ocean far we sail;
Fair blows the breeze; the air is balm;
Ah, treacherous winds, how soon you fail!
Alas, what means this endless calm!
Beneath the stirless heavens we lie,
And o'er us creeps a nameless fear;
What, are we doom'd, becalm'd to die,
Fixed on the airless ocean here?
O faint of heart, no—brothers, no;
On! to the glad new world we'll go.

Ah, wildly now the tempests wake;
Fierce blow the winds; the billows rise;
Foaming, the mad seas on us break;
O Lord! in mercy hear our cries;

338

O thou great God, that bid'st the waves
Be still, release our hearts from fear!
O are we doom'd to find our graves
Far in the raging ocean here?
Let waves roll high; let wild winds blow;
On! to the fair new world we'll go.

But no; O raise to God the psalm!
Praise him with prayer and solemn song!
Look! look! before us, dim and calm,
The looked-for land for which we long;
On!—on!—with all the speed you may!
Quick, on your barks fresh canvas crowd!
Ah, shore and headland fade away;
Alas! alas! they were but cloud!
Yet, what though cheated with a show?
On! to the fair new world we'll go.

O still have hope! O murmur not!
O think not of your homeward track!
Cease your fierce chidings! brothers, what,
You will not turn all hopeless back!
No; to the winds all doubtings fling!
Green land-weeds, see! surround each bark;
Hark! those are orchard birds that sing;
See! there a light gleams through the dark;
Ho! watch at prow and mast-head! ho!
Fast to the fair new world we go.

God's people through the desert pass'd;
But to the promised land they came;
We sail through dangers; but at last,
We too, O friends, shall do the same;
And, O what glory ours shall be
When there our peaceful sails are furl'd,
And men the perfect bliss shall see
Of this, our new discovered world!
On! morning shall the fair land show;
On! to the new world gladly go.