Poems of Places (V. 25)

Seitenzahl:

226

Gewicht:

336 g

Erschienen bei:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Kurzbeschreibung

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. WHAT did the ocean's waste supply To soothe the mind or please the eye? The rising morn through dim mist breaking, The flickered east with purple streaking; The midday cloud through thin air flying, With deeper blue the blue sea dyeing; Long ridgy waves their white manes rearing, And in the broad gleam disappearing; The broadened, blazing sun declining, And western waves like fire-floods shining; The sky's vast dome to darkness given, And all the glorious host of heaven! Full oft upon the deck, while others slept, To mark the bearing of each well-known star That shone aloft or on the horizon far, The anxious chief Lis lonely vigil kept. The mournful wind, the hoarse wave breaking near, The breathing groans of sleep, the plunging lead, The steersman's call, and his own stilly tread, Are all the sounds of night that reach his ear. But soon his dauntless soul, which naught could bend, - Nor hope delayed nor adverse fate subdue, ? With a more threatening danger must contend Than storm or wave, ? a fierce and angry crew! "Dearly," say they, "may we those visions rue Which lured us from our native land, A wretched, lost, devoted band, Led on by hope's delusive gleam, The victim of a madman's dream ! Nor gold shall e'er be ours, nor fame; Not even the remnant of a name On some rude, lettered stone to tell On what strange coast our wreck befell. For us no requiem shall be sung, Nor prayer be said, nor passing knell In holy church be rung." To thoughts like these all forms give way Of duty to a leader's sway; And, as he moves, ? ah ! wretched cheer ! ? Their muttered curses reach his ear. But all undaunted, firm, and sage, He scorns their threats, yet thus he soothes their rage: " That to some uearing coast we bear, How many...

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Mehr von:  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Cambridge Scholars Publishing