 | At Sunset |  |
5
FULTON
A river flashing like a gem,
Crowned with a mountain diadem,
Invites an unaccustomed guest
To launch his shallop on her crest—
A pilgrim whose exploring mind
Must leave his tardy pace behind:
“My bark creeps slow, the world is vast,
How shall its space be overpassed?”
Crowned with a mountain diadem,
Invites an unaccustomed guest
To launch his shallop on her crest—
A pilgrim whose exploring mind
Must leave his tardy pace behind:
“My bark creeps slow, the world is vast,
How shall its space be overpassed?”
Responsive to his cry appears
A visionary, young in years,
Commissioned with prophetic brain
The mystic problem to explain:
“Where fire and water closest blend,
There find a servant and a friend!”
A visionary, young in years,
Commissioned with prophetic brain
The mystic problem to explain:
“Where fire and water closest blend,
There find a servant and a friend!”
Yet many a moon must wax and wane,
With sleepless nights and days of pain,
Pleadings a monarch's court before,
Shrewd processes and study sore,
Ere on the silver tide shall float,
Swifter than thought, young Fulton's boat.
With sleepless nights and days of pain,
Pleadings a monarch's court before,
Shrewd processes and study sore,
6
Swifter than thought, young Fulton's boat.
And not alone for Hudson's stream
Avails the magic power of steam.
Blessings of unimagined worth
Its speed shall carry round the earth;
Knowledge shall on its pinions fly,
Nor land nor race in darkness lie;
Avails the magic power of steam.
Blessings of unimagined worth
Its speed shall carry round the earth;
Knowledge shall on its pinions fly,
Nor land nor race in darkness lie;
Commerce her hoards shall freely bring
To many an urgent summoning,
And Want and Wealth, in sundered lands,
Shall closely clasp redeeming hands,
While master minds new gospels span,
The holy brotherhood of Man.
To many an urgent summoning,
And Want and Wealth, in sundered lands,
Shall closely clasp redeeming hands,
While master minds new gospels span,
The holy brotherhood of Man.
Rest, Fulton, in thine honored grave,
Remembered with the wise and brave.
Not wholly dost thou yield to death,
For on the wind blows fiery breath,
And on the wave the solemn tread
Of multitudes o'er ocean led,
And in our grateful hearts a shrine
Of loving memory, all are thine.
Remembered with the wise and brave.
Not wholly dost thou yield to death,
For on the wind blows fiery breath,
And on the wave the solemn tread
Of multitudes o'er ocean led,
And in our grateful hearts a shrine
Of loving memory, all are thine.
And as one sun doth compass all
That can arise, or may befall;
One sentence on Creation's night
Bestowed the blessed boon of light,
So shall all life one promise fill
Of gentle nurture and good will,
While, pledge of Love's assured control,
The Flag of Freedom crowns the pole.
That can arise, or may befall;
7
Bestowed the blessed boon of light,
So shall all life one promise fill
Of gentle nurture and good will,
While, pledge of Love's assured control,
The Flag of Freedom crowns the pole.
| At Sunset | |