COLUMBUS

From his adventurous prime

He dreamed the dream sublime:

Over his wandering youth

It hung, a beckoning star.

At last the vision fled,

And left him in its stead

The scarce sublimer truth,

The world he found afar.

The scattered isles that stand

Warding the mightier land

Yielded their maidenhood

To his imperious prow.

The mainland within call

Lay vast and virginal:

In its blue porch he stood:

No more did fate allow.

No more! but ah, how much,

To be the first to touch

The veriest azure hem

Of that majestic robe!

Lord of the lordly sea,

Earth's mightiest sailor he:

Great Captain among them,

The captors of the globe.

When shall the world forget

Thy glory and our debt,

Indomitable soul,

Immortal Genoese?

Not while the shrewd salt gale

Whines amid shroud and sail,

Above the rhythmic roll

And thunder of the seas.