Columbus
by Joaquin Miller
EHIND 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!”