JOEL BARLOW

THE VISION OF COLUMBUS

FROM

BOOK I

Long had the Sage, the first who dar'd to brave
The unknown dangers of the western wave,
Who taught mankind where future empires lay
In these fair confines of descending day,
With cares o'erwhelm'd, in life's distressing gloom,
Wish'd from a thankless world a peaceful tomb;
While kings and nations, envious of his name,
Enjoy'd his labours and usurp'd his fame,
And gave the chief, from promis'd empire hurl'd,
Chains for a crown, a prison for a world.

Now night and silence held their lonely reign,
The half-orb'd moon declining to the main;
Descending clouds, o'er varying ether driven,
Obscur'd the stars, and shut the eye from heaven;
Cold mists through op'ning grates the cell invade,
And deathlike terrors haunt the midnight shade;
When from a visionary, short repose,
That rais'd new cares and temper'd keener woes,
Columbus woke, and to the walls address'd
The deep-felt sorrows of his manly breast.

"Here lies the purchase, here the wretched spoil,

Of painful years and persevering toil:

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For these dread walks, this hideous haunt of pain,
I trac'd new regions o'er the pathless main,
Dar'd all the dangers of the dreary wave,
Hung o'er its clefts and topp'd the surging grave,
Saw billowy seas in swelling mountains roll,
And bursting thunders rock the reddening pole,
Death rear his front in every dreadful form,
Gape from beneath and blacken in the storm;
Till, tost far onward to the skirts of day,
Where milder suns dispens'd a smiling ray,
Through brighter skies my happier sails descry'd
The golden banks that bound the western tide,
And gave th' admiring world that bounteous shore,
Their wealth to nations and to kings their power.

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"Oh land of wonders, dear, delusive coast,
To these fond aged eyes for ever lost!
No more thy flowery vales I travel o'er,
For me thy mountains rear the head no more,
For me thy rocks no sparkling gems unfold,
Or streams luxuriant wear their paths in gold:
From realms of promis'd peace for ever borne,
I hail dread anguish, and in secret mourn.

"But dangers past, a world explor'd in vain,
And foes triumphant shew but half my pain.
Dissembling friends, each earlier joy who gave,
And fir'd my youth the storms of fate to brave,
Swarm'd in the sunshine of my happier days,
Pursu'd the fortune and partook the praise,
Bore in my doubtful cause a two-fold part,
The garb of friendship and the viper's heart,
Now pass my cell with smiles of sour disdain,
Insult my woes and triumph in my pain.

"One gentle guardian Heav'n indulgent gave,
And now that guardian slumbers in the grave.
Hear from above, thou dear, departed Shade!
As once my joys, my present sorrows aid:
Burst my full heart, afford that last relief,

Breathe back my sighs and reinspire my grief!

Still in my sight thy royal form appears,
Reproves my silence and demands my tears.
On that blest hour my soul delights to dwell

When thy protection bade the canvass swell,

When kings and courtiers found their factions vain,

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Blind Superstition shrunk beneath her chain,

The sun's glad beam led on the circling way,

And isles rose beauteous in the western day.

But o'er those silv'ry shores, that new domain,
What crouds of tyrants fix their horrid reign!
Again bold Freedom seeks her kindred skies,
Truth leaves the world, and Isabella dies.

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Oh, lend thy friendly shroud to veil my sight,

That these pain'd eyes may dread no more the light!

These welcome shades shall close my instant doom,

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And this drear mansion moulder to a tomb."

Thus mourn'd the hapless man. A thundering sound

Roll'd round the shuddering walls and shook the ground;

O'er all the dome, where solemn arches bend,
The roofs unfold and streams of light descend;
The growing splendor fill'd th' astonish'd room,
And gales etherial breath'd a glad perfume.
Mild in the midst a radiant seraph shone,
Rob'd in the vestments of the rising sun;
Tall rose his stature, youth's primeval grace
Adorn'd his limbs and brighten'd in his face;
His closing wings, in golden plumage drest,
With gentle sweep came folding o'er his breast;
His locks in rolling ringlets glittering hung,
And sounds melodious mov'd his heav'nly tongue.

"Rise, trembling Chief; to scenes of rapture rise;
This voice awaits thee from th' approving skies.
Thy just complaints, in God's own presence known,
Have call'd compassion from his bounteous throne.
Assume no more the deep desponding strain
Nor count thy toils nor deem thy virtues vain.
Tho' faithless men thy injur'd worth despise,
'T is thus they treat the blessings of the skies:
For look thro' nature, Heav'n's own conduct trace;
What power divine sustains th' unthankful race!
From that great source, that life-inspiring soul,
Suns drew their light and systems learn'd to roll,
Time walk'd the silent round, and life began,
And God's fair image stamp'd the mind of man;
His cares, his bounties fill the realms of space,
And shine superior in thy favour'd race;

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Men speak their wants, th' all-bounteous hand supplies,
And gives the good that mortals dare despise.
In these dark vales where blinded faction sways,
Wealth, pride, and conquest claim the palm of praise,
Aw'd into slaves while grov'ling millions groan
And blood-stain'd steps lead upwards to a throne.
Far other wreaths thy virtuous temples claim,
Far nobler honours build thy sacred name;
Be thine the joys immortal minds that grace,
And thine the toils that bless a kindred race.

"Now raise thy ravish'd soul to scenes more bright,

The vision'd ages rising on thy sight;

For, wing'd with speed, from worlds of light I came,
To sooth thy grief and show thy distant fame.

As that great Seer whose animating rod
Taught Israel's sons the wonder-working God,
Who led thro' dreary wastes the murm'ring band
To the rich confines of the promis'd land,
Oppress'd with years from Pisgah's beauteous height
O'er boundless regions cast the raptur'd sight,
The bliss of unborn nations warm'd his breast,
Repaid his toils and sooth'd his soul to rest:
Thus o'er thy subject wave shalt thou behold
Far happier realms their future charms unfold,
In nobler pomp another Pisgah rise,
Beneath whose foot thy new-found Canaan lies;
There, rapt in vision, hail the distant clime,
And taste the blessings of remotest time."

The Seraph spoke; and now before them lay
(The doors unbarr'd) a steep ascending way,
That through disparting shades arose on high,
Reach'd o'er the hills and lengthen'd up the sky,
Show'd a clear summit rich with rising flowers,
That breathe their odours through celestial bowers;
O'er proud Hispanian spires it looks sublime,
Subjects the Alps and levels all the clime.
Led by the Power, Columbus gain'd the height;
A touch from heav'n sublim'd his mortal sight,
And calm beneath them flow'd the western main,
Far stretch'd, immense, a sky-encircled plain;
No sail, no isle, no cloud invests the bound,
Nor billowy surge disturbs th' unvaried round,
Till deep in distant heav'ns the sun's dim ray
Topp'd unknown cliffs and call'd them up to day.
Slow glimmering into sight wide regions drew,
And rose and brighten'd on th' expanding view;
Fair sweep the waves, the lessening ocean smiles,
And breathes the fragrance of a thousand isles;
Near and more near the long-drawn coasts arise,
Bays stretch their arms, and mountains lift the skies,
The lakes, unfolding, point the streams their way,

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The plains, the hills, their spreading skirts display,
The vales draw forth, high walk th' approaching groves,
And all the majesty of nature moves.

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O'er the wild climes his eyes delighted rove,
Where lands extend and glittering waters move;
He saw through central realms the winding shore
Spread the deep Gulph his sail had trac'd before,
The Darien isthmus meet the raging tide,
Join distant lands and neighb'ring seas divide,
On either side the shores unbounded bend,
Push wide their waves and to the poles ascend,
While two great continents united rise,

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Broad as the main and lengthen'd with the skies.

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FROM
BOOK V

Now where the sheeted flames thro' Charlestown roar,

And lashing waves hiss round the burning shore,
Thro' the deep folding fires dread Bunker's height
Thunders o'er all and shows a field of fight.
Like shad'wy phantoms in an evening grove
To the dark strife the closing squadrons move:
They join, they break, they thicken, thro' the air,
And blazing batteries burst along the war;
Now wrapp'd in reddening smoke, now dim in sight,
They sweep the hill or wing the downward flight;
Here, wheel'd and wedg'd, Britannia's veterans turn,
And the long lightnings from their musquets burn;
There scattering strive the thin colonial train,

And broken squadrons still the field maintain;
Britons in fresh battalions rise the height,
And with increasing vollies give the fight.

Till, smear'd with clouds of dust and bath'd in gore,
As growing foes their rais'd artillery pour,
Columbia's host moves o'er the field afar,
And saves by slow retreat the sad remains of war.
There strides bold Putnam, and from all the plains
Calls the tir'd troops, the tardy rear sustains,
And, mid the whizzing deaths that fill the air,
Waves back his sword and dares the foll'wing war.
Thro' falling fires Columbus sees remain

Half of each host in heaps promiscuous slain,

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