COLUMBUS1

JOAQUIN MILLER (1841-1911)

Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules; 2
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said: "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone,

Brave Adm'r'l, speak; what shall I say?"
"Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!""

"My men grow mutinous day by day;

My men grow ghastly, wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day:

'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!""

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched mate said:
"Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.

1 From Joaquin Miller's Poems (Bear Edition), Vol. II. Copyright, 1909, by C. H. Miller. Published by Harr Wagner Publishing Company, San Francisco. Used by permission of the publishers. 2 The gates or pillars of Hercules were terms often applied to the two great promontories, Gibraltar and Abyla, on the opposite sides of the strait leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. In Greek mythology these were said to have been torn asunder by Hercules in his journey to Gadez (now Cadiz).

These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Adm'r'l; speak and say
He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

99

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:
"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,

He lifts his teeth, as if to bite!

Brave Adm'r'l, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
“Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then pale and worn, he paced his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night,
Of all dark nights! And then a speck
A light! A light! At last a light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"

COLUMBUS1

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D.D. (1822-1909)

Give me white paper!

This which you use is black and rough with smears
Of sweat and grime and fraud and blood and tears,

In this poem the author, who was eminent as clergyman, orator, historian, essayist, editor, and writer of fiction, aptly expresses the thought of the New World as offering humanity's great opportunity. From address on "The Result of Columbus's Discovery," in Works of Edward Everett Hale, Vol. III. Copyright, 1900, by Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Used by permission of the publishers.

Crossed with the story of men's sins and fears,
Of battle and of famine all these years,

When all God's children have forgot their birth,
And drudged and fought and died like beasts of earth.

Give me white paper!

One storm-trained seaman listened to the word;

What no man saw he saw; he heard what no man heard.

In answer he compelled the sea

To eager man to tell

The secret she had kept so well.
Left blood and guilt and tyranny behind,
Sailing still west the hidden shore to find;

For all mankind that unstained scroll unfurled,
Where God might write anew the story of the World.

TO THE VIRGINIAN VOYAGE1

MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631)

You brave heroic minds,
Worthy your country's name,

That honor still pursue,

Whilst loitering hinds

Lurk here at home, with shame,

Go, and subdue.

Britons, you stay too long,

Quickly aboard bestow you,

This spirit of adventure, achievement, and faith in the future felt by the Englishmen of the seventeenth century is a part of the inheritance entering into the American spirit.

From the Works of Michael Drayton, Esq., Vol. IV. Printed for W. Reeve at Shakespear's Head in Fleet Street, London, 1753.

And with a merry gale
Swell your stretch'd sail,
With vows as strong
As the winds that blow you.

Your course securely steer,
West and by south forth keep,
Rocks, lee-shores, nor shoals,
When Eolus scowls,

You need not fear,
So absolute the deep.

And cheerfully at sea,
Success you still entice,

To get the pearl and gold,
And ours to hold,

Virginia,

Earth's only paradise,

Where nature hath in store

Fowl, venison, and fish,
And the fruitfulest soil,
Without your toil,

Three harvests more,

All greater than your wish.

And the ambitious vine

Crowns with his purple mass

The cedar reaching high
To kiss the sky,

The cypress, pine,

And useful sassafras.