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The African's First Sight of the Ocean
Dr. Livingstone's Travels.
Without an end the world had seemed,
A boundless plain, where they were born;
Stretching beyond the setting sun,
And where again it rose at morn.
A boundless plain, where they were born;
Stretching beyond the setting sun,
And where again it rose at morn.
And so the ancients them had taught,
Their fathers' fathers all believed;
Nor of an end they ere had dreamed,
But as the truth their words received.
Their fathers' fathers all believed;
Nor of an end they ere had dreamed,
But as the truth their words received.
But when they saw the ocean wide,
And all its grandeur on them broke;
With wonder and amazement filled,
The voice of Nature in them spoke.
And all its grandeur on them broke;
With wonder and amazement filled,
The voice of Nature in them spoke.
The world itself they seemed to hear
Say, “I am finished! I am no more!”
The world your fathers boundless thought,
Is ended at the ocean's shore.
Say, “I am finished! I am no more!”
The world your fathers boundless thought,
Is ended at the ocean's shore.
525
The end! Oh thought beyond our grasp,
Which earth, and sky, and ocean teach;
To which all Nature witness bears,
Though not in transient human speech.
Which earth, and sky, and ocean teach;
To which all Nature witness bears,
Though not in transient human speech.
Poem No. 850; 4 March 1879
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