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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


COLUMBUS by EDWARD COLLINS DOWNING

First Line: THE VISION HE FORESAW
Last Line: AND MONUMENT.
Subject(s): COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER (1451-1506); EXPLORERS; EXPLORING; DISCOVERY; DISCOVERERS;

The vision he foresaw
Was more than faith -- was law
To him,
As if he must
Be faithful to so great a trust,
For he alone
Had seen beyond the farthest rim
Of sense
The venture and the recompense.

The vision was his own.
He saw where sails had never flown,
Where none had fared
The course he dared.
Beyond the sea
He saw a greater world to be.

He only had the will to steer
From hemisphere to hemisphere,
Inflexible in his intent
When others' courage failed;
And so he sailed and sailed,
Till, where he saw his flag unfurled,
The whole vast western world
Became
His fame
And monument.



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