Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COLUMBUS: STANZAS 1-4, by CHARLES BUXTON GOING


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COLUMBUS: STANZAS 1-4, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night air brings strange whisperings - vague scents
Last Line: Thy deep te deum sounded on the strand.
Subject(s): Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506); Explorers; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers


THE night air brings strange whisperings -- vague scents --
Over the unknown ocean, which his dreams
Had spanned with visions of new continents;
Fragrance of clove and cedar, and the balms
With which the heavy tropic forest teems
With murmur as of wind among the palms.

They breathe across the high deck where he stands
With far set eyes, as one who dreams awake
Waiting sure dawn of undiscovered lands;
Till on the slow lift of the purple swells,
The golden radiances of morning break
Lighting the emblazoned sails of Caravels.
Then from the foremost sounds a sudden cry --
The old world's startled greeting to the new --
For lo! the land, across the western sky!
The exultant land: Oh long-starved hopes, black fears,
Gibings of courtiers, mutinies of crew --
Answered forever, as that shore appears.

Great Master Dreamer! Grander than Cathay,
Richer than India -- this new Western World
Shall flourish when Castile has passed away.
Not even thy gigantic vision spanned
Its future, as with cross and flag unfurled,
Thy deep Te Deum sounded on the strand.





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