Panama and Other Poems Narrative and Occasional :: :: University of Virginia Library

Palter not, sons of Washington, for gold,
Nor see the Fane of dreaming Darien sold!
The imagined site of universal peace,
O be this let but on a spacious lease;
This destined bridge of ultimate embrace
For nations, be of grandeur and of grace!
Nor let that slow-reared Splendour stand suspect
Or by a rankling littleness be flecked.
That vast conception ye have bought too dear,
The dream magnificent have brought too near;
Vision, for which two peoples strove as one,
Until it leapt incorporate to stone!
Those bases were too broadly, deeply laid,
To be an argument for discord made.

Then creep not coast-wise down the shore of Gain,
But spread full wings unto the ampler main.
Ye marry sea to sea, and tide to tide,
Atlantic bridegroom to Pacific bride;
“What God hath joined, let not man put asunder!”
Thus saith the Church in ritual of thunder;
Yet here, and in sublimer marriage met,
Oceans are joined which God asunder set.
A priestlike task is this, to reconcile,
Not troth of mighty waters to defile.

Since ne'er as here since first our earth began,
Rose Nature so invincible to man;
Nor came he to such splendid grapple yet
With massy force as in this problem set.
Nor e'er did mind give matter such a fall,
In wrestle that might hand and brain appal.
For Pharaoh vanquished a more level soil,
And lashed his millions to a lesser toil;
His slaves in dumb obedience strove with sand;
Lo! here a mountain pierced, a torrent spanned!
By Pennell's magic pencil may be viewed

How mightily the mass is gashed and hewed;
There locks that bosom barques of monstrous girth,
Culebra's final challenge to the earth;
Chagres by Dam stupendous of Gatun,
Transforms its valley to a lake immune.
Steam-spurts innumerable start and sigh,
Thousands of toilers murmur near the sky;
Some blast with dreadful dynamite the hills,
Some sweep the débris that explosion fills.
All sings orchestral to the timing rod
Of Goethals, and obeys his potent nod.
Whate'er to man defeated Nature gave,
Whether to lisp his message through the wave,
And human language on the foam transmit;
Whatever he hath wrung by arduous wit
To waft him through the air in birdlike frame
Winging the midnight with an eye of flame.
All art of enginery of air or ground
Here apt and burnished for its task is found;
And bridled lightning lies and harnessed thunder,
To scorch a path or hurl a hill asunder.
Behold an universal haunt of ships,
Created proof 'gainst earthquake and eclipse!

Though, Panama, not yet the memories old
Of Suez' historied Isthmus thee enfold,
Suez that heard the legions of Thothmes,
The innumerable tramp of Rameses,
Or sound of Syrian or of Persian hosts
Militant murmuring t'ward Egyptian coasts;
Whose sands adventuring Bonaparte essayed,
Till Acre all that Eastern vision stayed;
Yet here thy history is just begun,
A legend that shall pass but with the sun.
A peaceful story thine! Of East and West
Now reconciled in deep unrankling rest.
Nor hast thou played, America, this part
Alone in conflict, but in healing art,
Since thou didst gird thyself a foe intense
To vaporous poison, and to pestilence;
And to the fatal fly with baleful breath,
That bears on gaudy wings the buzzing death,
That air that once was mortal now is pure,
And Eden rose a garden sweet, secure.
Where Goethals wrought in energy aflame,
Let Gorgas raise an equal plea for fame;
Who from the pest-house and the evil fen
Conjured a breathing paradise for men.

No speck then e'er abase thy starry shield,
Who mad'st reluctant nature thus to yield!
Break not thy pact! nor make the wide world rue;
Thou art too mighty to be aught but true!
Thus wilt thou please, whate'er advantage won,
Spirits of Lincoln or of Washington?
O loftier than all peaks in Darien
Thy honour soars; unclouded be its ken!