Columbus

by Joaquin Miller

  • BEHIND him lay the gray Azores,
  •    Behind the Gates of Hercules;
  • Before him not the ghost of shores,
  •    Before him only shoreless seas.
  • The good mate said: “Now must we pray,
  •   For lo! the very stars are gone.
  • Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?”
  •   “Why, say, ‘Sail on! sail on! and on!’”

  • “My men grow mutinous day by day;
  •   My men grow ghastly wan and weak.”
  • The stout mate thought of home; a spray
  •   Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
  • “What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
  •   If we sight naught but seas at dawn?”
  • “Why, you shall say at break of day,
  •   ‘Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!’”

  • They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
  •   Until at last the blanched mate said:
  • “Why, now not even God would know
  •   Should I and all my men fall dead.
  • These very winds forget their way,
  •   For God from these dread seas is gone.
  • Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say”—
  •   He said: “Sail on! sail on! and on!”

  • They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:
  •   “This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.
  • He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
  •   With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
  • Brave Admiral, say but one good word:
  •   What shall we do when hope is gone?”
  • The words leapt like a leaping sword:
  •   “Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!”

  • Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
  •   And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
  • Of all dark nights! And then a speck—
  •   A light! A light! A light! A light!
  • It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
  •   It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn.
  • He gained a world; he gave that world
  •   Its grandest lesson: “On! sail on!”