"'TIS a wonderful story," I hear you say, "How he struggled and worked and plead and prayed, And faced every danger undismayed, With a will that would neither break nor bend. And discovered a new world in the end -- But what does it teach to a boy of today? All the worlds are discovered, you know of course, All the rivers are traced to their utmost source: If he had ever so much a mind To become a discoverer famous; And if we'd much rather read a book About someone else, and the risks he took, Why nobody, surely, can blame us." So you think all the worlds are discovered now; All the lands have been charted and sailed about, Their mountains climbed, their secrets found out; All the seas have been sailed, and their currents known -- To the uttermost isles the winds have blown They have carried a venturing prow? Yet there lie all about us new worlds, everywhere, That wait their discoverer's footfall; spread fair Are electrical worlds that no eye has yet seen, And mechanical worlds that lie hidden serene And await their Columbus securely. There are new worlds in Science and new worlds in Art. And the boy who will work with his head and his heart Will discover his new world surely. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEDICATION IN THESE DAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH CYMON AND IPHIGENIA by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO BOSTON by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON BLESSING THE LIGHTS by ALTER ABELSON PENT by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON PRIDE OF THE VILLAGE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |