O LITTLE fleet! that on thy quest divine Sailedst from Palos one bright autumn morn, Say, has old Ocean's bosom ever borne A freight of faith and hope to match with thine? Say, too, has Heaven's high favor given again Such consummation of desire as shone About Columbus when he rested on The new-found world and married it to Spain? Answer, -- thou refuge of the freeman's need, -- Thou for whose destinies no kings looked out, Nor sages to resolve some mighty doubt, -- Thou simple Mayflower of the salt-sea mead! When thou wert wafted to that distant shore, Gay flowers, bright birds, rich odors met thee not; Stern Nature hailed thee to a sterner lot, -- God gave free earth and air, and gave no more. Thus to men cast in that heroic mould Came empire such as Spaniard never knew, Such empire as beseems the just and true; And at the last, almost unsought, came gold. But He who rules both calm and stormy days, Can guard that people's heart, that nation's health, Safe on the perilous heights of power and wealth, As in the straitness of the ancient ways. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEGY ON THYRZA by GEORGE GORDON BYRON FRIENDSHIP [OR, THE TRUE FRIEND] by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ONE'S-SELF I SING by WALT WHITMAN AT PORT ROYAL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER TIPPERARY: 5. BY OUR OWN EUGENE FIELD by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS JAPANESE MAPLES by JENNIE SCOTT ARNOLD THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 10. THE DEATH OF HUSKISSON by T. BAKER |