Sir John Hanmer (1809–1881)

AS o’er the sea’s deep world-sustaining breast,

Climbing the steep horizon, onward bear

The thought-winged ships, and each his track more fair

Believes, for ’t is his own, than all the rest;

Which not the less doth fade, as ’t is imprest;

And the great waters, and cloud-traversed air,

With their enduring might, are only there,

And space of days unmeasured, east and west:

Dread realms of Art, illimitable as ocean,

So fares man’s spirit o’er your region waves,

Proudly and lonely, with a choral motion;

Sunshine he courts, but tempests too he braves;

Seeking the port, where, for their heart’s devotion,

Fame lights her star over such seamen’s graves.