 | Poems |  |
BEFORE WILKIE'S “COLUMBUS.”
So look'd the great world-seeker, in neglect,In poverty and the world's scorn, erect
On the broad stand of the earth-changing thought
Which the dumb West from out the Past's night caught
To light and life. Yet, friend, how nearly wreck'd
Seem'd that great thought which God will'd should connect
The far, dim vast, which then his clear sight sought,
And the old world, first wed in his clear thought.
What at that moment was in that broad brow!
The gleam of the white multitudinous sails,
The ocean-shuttles ever crossing now!
The march of man towards where the sunset pales,
Of rules to which the coming times shall bow!
Friend, lo, a God-sent purpose never fails.
| Poems | |