Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Ulysses and Columbus
By Alfred William Winterslow Dale (1855–1926)N
With whispering winds beneath an eastern sky,
Lay the mysterious Island of the Blest,
Nor in the limits of a pent-up lake
Where timid seamen crept from isle to isle
Scattered like stars in heaven, as a child
Through the wide field wanders with doubting foot
By daisies led that ever beckon on;
But with the western sun, ’fore shifting gales
Of hope and doubt, full many a weary soul
Set sail upon the deep, and shot between
The twin tall pillars,—that sheer precipice
From known to mystery,—then into a sea
Where wave and sky were blent with wreaths of cloud,
Without a guide to lead, or star to cheer.
And there he wandered, ere the storm came on
And whelmed his bark, yet in his darkest hour
Found—not the shore he sought amidst the gloom,
But life’s eternal secret clear at last,
Life’s inmost mystery all made bright in death.
And ages passed, and races rose and fell,
And from their ashes other nations sprang
Like flowers that draw life from the past year’s grave.
Last a strong soul, after long days of strife,
Foiling the fears within, the foes without,
Set sail from Spain, and groping in the gloom
After the flying shore, the fable land,
Stood bravely on in face of sea and storm.
And, ere he won his goal, full many a pledge
Of triumph long delayed came drifting on
Far o’er the darkening blue, as land grew near,
Lurking amid a mass of cloudy sky,
Low lying in the far-off western wave.
Then year by year swept on, and as they ran,
Great forests rose and crumbled, and the lives
Of men passed with them, while a mighty race
Was gathering slowly, as the atoms meet
That go to form the framework of a star,
And mid the crash of kingdoms and of throne
Rising like coral reefs from thundering seas.
And British speech and British laws were theirs,
And British princes. Faithfully they served
For many a year, and rendered every due
As it beseemed them, till an evil day
Came on the rulers, and possessed their souls
With foul injustice working cruel wrong.
Then flamed our fathers’ spirit, and they dared
A struggle all uneven, till they broke
The tyrant’s chain and won their human right,
Earning their freedom with free heart and soul.