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 Co 
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 TORO 
 ILLfAM 
 
 PU8LI5 
 

 The 
 
 I 
 
 Dream of 
 
 i 
 
 Columbus 
 
 fl puirmw 
 
 .... BY ... . 
 
 R. WALTEH WRIGHT, B.D. 
 
 TORONTO 
 ILLfAM BRIGGS 
 
 1 PU8LISHEM 
 
» 
 
 '>i^ 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
Till' DKHAM OF COI.LMIiUS 
 
I 
 
rnK 
 
 DREAiVI OF COLUMBUS 
 
 A 
 
 otin 
 
 By K. WALTIiR WRIGHT, B.l). 
 
 TORONTO 
 
 M..sii!KAi,: C. W. COATliS lUr.iKAx: ,s. F. IllKSTlS 
 

 4 A« 
 
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I 
 
 IMI-: liKKA.M Ol' ((ll.lMljls. 
 
 'I'U/ltd, ill (|,(. 
 
 I : 
 
 IMMILC 1)1-:. 
 
 Tin: lir;ii'| hall, its sivivts, and so li,it|, tli.. sc; 
 
 Tlic licux.' <.f the l)il|uws. 111,. ,.„sl, of the tides, 
 l]\«'r-rlir.)l.l)iii,i; tlic |)ulst's of Dcitv he ; 
 
 The l''..ic.' of ;i r,„vc rliat fuivN.M' ahidcs. 
 
 Ah: Deity P(.ivr ;ire hiif naiiu's tn the . soul 
 
 That would pluck the -(,1,1 uaiKl fn.m (h,. liyht han.i ,,f 
 I' orcc. 
 
 Would \v,.ar the famed laurel of .Mvsteivs <.„;i| 
 And talk eye t,, ,.ye with the Life in its Source. 
 
 The v,.ic,.s fn.m snoNv-crested hreakers th;U ras,". 
 
 Tlie keen i.hosph,.,- ..yes that flash out in th.' ni-Jit, 
 Tlie ma-neticul t<.uch of the cold, witehin- wa\e, 
 
 Ale the infinite divains of the i'.vvni Infinite. 
 
 The child-solj ,,f ,,e(.an that lon.i^'cth f,»r sl,.e],, 
 
 A woman's deej. aniruish wails out h,nn the din. 
 
 Aml)itioii-s hoars,. v<,ice in the l>iasj,hcmous sw(>ep. 
 And the mixed multitudiii,.us roaiiiiirs ,)f sin - 
 
<; 
 
 Till-: DNEAyr or co/.iwnics. 
 
 Iiiii|uity's iiiiji^jc ! "iioitli diukin'ss iiii<l siiinc, 
 
 And tlir (lia^on s ;;n'jit (h'lii^r of sciiuiintus liuit. 
 
 Air imintl«'(I tin* uiihuiird ifcuids ut' ciiiiM' : 
 Tlio troultlcd s«';i cjislt'th its iiiii*' and its diit. 
 
 Th<^ «,'()ld<'ii ap' cuiiiclli, tliciv sliull Ih' iio sea : 
 Yot still must I sail hy tin- uidinislicd cliait, 
 
 And Imffet tlir hillow, and cirHp l>y the Nm- : 
 'I'lit' sea hath its s«'(.'r'('ts, and so liatli tlif lirait. 
 
 I 
 
 « 
 
 T. 
 
 TiiK weary sun was dead, his snow -white shroud 
 Enfolded hy a sonilne pall of cloud ; 
 
 Mur'UJUied deep moans, heart-solthinns half sujipiessed. 
 And watchers" torclies flashed aloiii-" the west. 
 
 C'olumhus mai-ked the storm's <juick pace, 
 As Palos-ward he Hxed his fac<' ; 
 Mis footstej»s faint, his <iui\eiin<f lips 
 Muttered of Hope's complete eclipse : 
 Yet, now and then, a stran,y;e Hre gleamed 
 Fi'om his gray eyes, a fii-e that seemed 
 To outmatch the lightnings of th<' sky, 
 All death, all darkness to dcfv. 
 
 Diego's hand he held in his, 
 
 His only grasp on earth was this : 
 
 Kings, juntos, priests, theologies, 
 
THE DREAM 1>E cofjwmrs. 
 
 hurl. 
 
 •I. 
 
 lit. 
 
 nl 
 
 )Jtf('SS('(l 
 
 •«', 
 
 led 
 
 All sfihd iii.-ul<> iKju's of j)oJicl«'s, 
 
 All faith ill niuii, all fuiiovs s\v(m'|», 
 
 Weiv Niiiii us l)ul)l»lt's on the (l»'»'|). 
 
 In the «'loctiic touch of v<»utli 
 
 Tlu'rc ran some 1 r-ciuhiiiii; truce of truth, 
 
 Tlic culler eyes thut swum in trust, 
 
 Tlie St ron;,^ willed feet that spurned the dust. 
 
 The lii;ht curls llutteriny; with desire, 
 
 'I'he cheeks u;;low with lioyish tire 
 
 A hoy a;,'uin a(M'noese, 
 
 Tie cuu;,dit the suit wind froui the seus, 
 
 And buck tlieic lushed the Pu\ iun dreaiiis, 
 
 The luminous Port() Sunto schemes. 
 
 The trel)ly-demonstrate(l plan. 
 
 The im})erial faith in (Jod not mun. 
 
 The rain in torrents fell, and lute 
 They ij^uched u monastery gate, 
 Half-desperate, a hegj^ur he 
 Who vaini}' f)frered kin,i,'s tli(^ key 
 To vast New Worlds, and daily s(jld 
 The Indies' erown and Oj>}ii.:, gold. 
 
 ^) Tia Uahida I when are goiu- 
 
 Into the dense oblivion 
 
 Of fateful years, the lustnms name 
 
 Of palace-- temple liigh in fame. 
 
 Where kings weie crowned and prelates heard. 
 
1 
 
 Tin-: DREAM OF COLUMnrs. 
 
 And licrocs" honos were .s«'inilolii-(«(i ; 
 TiiiM'. the rude I'liiscllrr .' thine sli.-ill iiK.ck, 
 IOnor;i\cii «)ii iiivi(»l;it«' loi-k. 
 Tliuii wust the hiiiiTf. ujxm wliidi turned 
 The New Wi.ilds destiny, and hiuned 
 Tpon thy liearth the enihers hii-ht 
 \\ h<'re (Jeniiis did her toivli leh'yht, 
 And now witli exci'urctu inir cheer 
 llhiinines half a hemisphere. 
 <) .luan Perez .' tliy p.iory lanij), 
 A nioic than loyal seal, shall staniji 
 All e()min,L( years ; its god-like pi-int, 
 Old Suf)erstition's face of flint, 
 Shall l)laiich and co\v(>r, f(»r it hath hroiii^dit 
 Ktoi-nal lihei'ty to thou<,dit. 
 
 \ 
 
 With outswelled eyes and t]irol»l)in,ij heart, 
 Marchena followed o'er the chart 
 
 The wizard finders, where tiiere lav 
 
 The long-sought regions of Cathiy. 
 
 St. IJi-aiidan like a shield outlined ; 
 
 While plain with Ijavs and capes defined, 
 
 Antilla, Aristotle's ghost, 
 
 Appeared with l)old an<l rocky coast. 
 
 Tt was the Seveii-citied Land ; 
 
 There led by Heaven's proj)itious hand, 
 
 Seveji hisliops found a j)aradise, 
 
 1 
 
THE DREAM OE CiU.UMIil'S. 
 
 
 
 NN'lierc Mooiisli crescents iiosei- rise. 
 
 Cipaii^'o, wIm'I'c iill iK'iiiitics lilent, 
 
 'I'lie I'ic'lu'st isle of ()ri('iit, 
 
 The nutiiien- jumI the pepper trees 
 
 III forests \ ast perfume the seas 
 
 Tor leai^ues nroiind. wliere sirens sini,', 
 
 l)ipj)iii<i tlie \va\e wiili aiii,'el winir. 
 
 There golden jialaees an<l towers 
 
 Uise "midst the myrrh and lialsam howers 
 
 Sits elatl in silk, on throne of jtearl. 
 
 With jeweUed amethyst and hervl, 
 
 A haloed kiny, wliose crown displays 
 
 A thousand diamonds" da/./linif hla/e. 
 
 ('liart;;ed with tiie lodestones liirinu' ores. 
 
 W'ei-e the ten Manillas" spicy sliores. 
 
 North, where the Arctic suns liani;' low, 
 
 The l{uss with d(»i;-s]ed<j:e skims the snow. 
 
 Kor ages tropic stars had slione 
 
 I pon the sliadow y Prester .lolin. 
 
 Who I'ules, with linn anti regal sway, 
 
 l''our thousand islands of Malay. 
 
 Here Maiide\ille his feet had set 
 
 On Tang, Ciamha, and Thehet. 
 
 Here was the kingdom of the Dawn, 
 
 Whei'e Marco Polo once had gone — 
 
 And now witli iiitei-est more intense, 
 
 I'iiithusiastic ehxpience 
 
10 THE DREAM OE COLUMnVS. 
 
 Leaped from the stranger's fiery t<Jiigue, 
 Till silent cell and cloister rung. 
 . Cathay, the Tartar's \ast domain, 
 Where the gi-eat Cublai doth reign 
 O'er vaster realms than Charlemagne, 
 As King of kings, the wise grand Khan, 
 VVho from the Pope instruction sought, 
 And from Jerusalem had brought 
 Of Christ's own lamp the holy oil. 
 That he might Orient devils foil. 
 A glorious pictui'e then he drew 
 Of the great city, Cambalu ; 
 A square of four a!\d twenty miles 
 Of temples and palatial piles, 
 And central crown and excellence, 
 The Khan's imperial residence. 
 Piercing the clouds beyond the sight, 
 A mount of gold, a flame of light. 
 More wondrous still was Mangi's state. 
 With its twelve hundred cities great ; 
 Magnificent, outvying all, 
 Was Quinsai, the capital, 
 Built on a thousand-island crest, 
 It swims on ocean's mirrored breast, 
 The upper and the nether sky 
 Midway between, it seems to lie. , 
 City of Heaven ! from earth afar. 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMnUS. 
 
 11 
 
 It shines a firmaniental stai-. 
 
 The Spaniard's fancy, wingless, blind, 
 
 The Spaniard's language unrefined, 
 
 Has nought in words which can express 
 
 Its beauty, wealth and gorgeousness. 
 
 Richness of viands and perfumes. 
 
 The nuirv'ellous cloths of Indian looms, 
 
 The treasures of each art sublime, 
 
 Perfected from the eldest Time. 
 
 All melodies the ear rejoice, 
 
 Of bird, and lyre, and human voice. 
 
 The hoards from field, and sea, and mine, 
 
 (fathered by haughty Floi'entine, 
 
 The ducat treasuries, vast and dark, 
 
 Beneath the shadows of St. Mark, 
 
 The revenues of Arragon, 
 
 The spoils that all the Ctesars won. 
 
 The glory of King Solomon, 
 
 Are but as tinsel di'oss and clay 
 
 Beside the wonders of Cathay. 
 
 Yet chiefest charm in land so blest, 
 
 What gives to all the keenest zest, 
 
 Are women with complexion fair. 
 
 Black flashing eyes, beyond compare. 
 
 Shine as fixed stars 'mid jewels rare, 
 
 And witching smiles, and golden hair. 
 
1^ 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 This climax reacliod, Columbus staved 
 
 For very breath, then calmly laid 
 
 Upon his throbbiiijuf heart one hand, 
 
 The other raised as in command. 
 
 Such thoughts sublime his soul possessed, 
 
 Such will-power in his lips compiessed. 
 
 Such magic in his piercing glance, 
 
 Sucli heaven-transfigured countenance, 
 
 Such gfKl-like grace of attitude, 
 
 That Perez, dazed and silent, stood. 
 
 As in a prophet's ecstasy 
 
 Columbus spoke : " I am to l)e 
 
 The heaven-sent messenger to bring 
 
 The far-off heathen to their King. 
 
 Their amplest riches will I claim 
 
 For Christian use, in (lod's own name ; 
 
 The East of all its gold disgorge, 
 
 Potential weapons I shall forge. 
 
 To storm Jerusalem's citadel. 
 
 And chase the Moslem dogs to hell. 
 
 Mendoza, Spain's third king, may leer, 
 
 And Salamanca's sages jeer. 
 
 Me, as a madman, clowns may greet. 
 
 And br.ats shout, ' Bald head,' on the street ; 
 
 T stand upon the sacred rock 
 
 Of Micah, Joel, Habakkuk, ♦ 
 
 Of Zechariah's oracle, 
 
THE DREAM OF COL CM BUS. 
 
 Of Cho))ai-'s socr, Ezokiel, 
 
 Of Daniel, and of Malachi ; 
 
 They .saw the golden ages nigh 
 
 When, as the waters o'er the sea, 
 
 (iod's knowledge everywhere should be ; 
 
 His grace to me the key confides 
 
 To ope the floodgates of these tides. 
 
 Isaiah, man of seraph soul, 
 
 Whose lips were toucherl with living coal, 
 
 (iazing adown Time's ^ ast abyss. 
 
 Said with prophetic emphasis, 
 
 ' These from the north and from the west, 
 
 The land of Sinim shall be blest.' 
 
 Oh, saw he not, through mist and dark. 
 
 The white sails of my westbound bark ; 
 
 And saw upon the heaving prow 
 
 The humble Genoese, that now 
 
 Flies from the foolish Spaniard's state, 
 
 The bloody Jezebel of fate. 
 
 By some faith-brook of Cherith led. 
 
 Havens shall feed me heavenly bread. 
 
 Ye worshippers of Baal, farewell ! 
 
 Your low-born faith, a Moloch spell. 
 
 I give ye o'er to doubt and death. 
 
 Farewell ! ve slaves of Ashtoreth ! " 
 
 13 
 
 O'erwlielmed was Perez as he saw 
 
 And heard, and sunk transfixed with awe 
 
14 THE DREAM OF COLUMIWS. 
 
 l^pon a bench the mhU beside, 
 And silent sat, eyes opened wide. 
 A monk came in, without surprise 
 He saw the prior's staring eyes ; 
 For so 'twas said, such watch lie kef)t, 
 With unclosed eyes he always slept. 
 Columbus' hand, without a word. 
 He took (the prior never stirred), 
 And led him to an oaken door, 
 The dormitory for tlie pooi*. 
 By the taint taper light he saw, 
 On earthen foor, a bed of straw : 
 Diego hours had slumbered there ; 
 A heavy sigh, a hasty prayer, 
 A silent Ave, then he crept 
 Into his humble couch and slept. 
 
 II. 
 
 A TKOUBLED sleep ! a nightmare horror drew 
 
 Its snaky folds about his prostrate form. 
 
 And held each neive as in a vise of iron ; 
 
 No powder to move, no breath, and life itself 
 
 Seemed writhing uttermost for very life, 
 
 Yet without room to writhe ; speechless, oppressed 
 
 With horrid incubus, the weight of worlds. 
 
 He lay enwrapped in Mara's spectral arms. 
 
 His N'eiy soul was dungeoned, all that reached 
 
THE DREAM OE CO I. EM BUS. 
 
 15 
 
 It tVom tlie Honsate woiltl, a dismal wail 
 Reiterate, a cursed nioiiotone 
 < )f oft-recurient sound, an unvoiced moan 
 Hauntinjj the lone weird chambers of tlv soul ; 
 A ^'hostly echo of the ocean's swouL'h 
 On the fjir-di.stant shore. With throes intense 
 (.)f anguish longed the sleeper for release. 
 Helj) long delayed. Annihilation pressed 
 His iron shield upon his nostrils, grippetl 
 In his rough fist the vital silvei- cord. 
 He wrestled with some great leviathan, 
 It seentetl, a thousand fathoms 'neath the wave. 
 In utter- gloom, now torn with tentacles, 
 Nov.- tossed through swirling waters half a rood, 
 Now held to hear- the monster's heart heat out 
 The same soul-sickening sound. "Oh. could,'' he 
 thought, 
 
 " I cast this deadly elephantine mass 
 Of circumambiejit Hesh, this leaden corpse, 
 Aside." But like a funeral bell there tolled, 
 And rolled, the melancholy swimbel dire. 
 His thoughts seemed gangrened, scarred and scal)bed his 
 brain ; 
 
 An infinite paroxysm rent his soul. 
 In utter darkness demons rushed and yelled, 
 Swung tantalizing just beyond his reach ; 
 And far above his head, instead of stars, 
 
IG 
 
 THE DREAM OF CULUM/iUS. 
 
 Sliot fiery Walls of hhxMl, licrco meteors, 
 
 AVhos(? glai'injL,', vengeful eyes gave fortli no light, 
 
 P>ut roved as age-worn sims in the dead gloom. 
 
 Now, dizzily down the impetuous steep he slid, 
 
 To where the death's-head grows on leatlesa trees 
 
 1>V Sheol's river, where the faded flowers 
 
 Exhale miasma on the putrid air. 
 
 The stagnant sti'eam brimmed to his helpl(!ss lips 
 
 Its nauseous draught ; just o'er the goblin wave, 
 
 He saw the horrid king ride forth, full clad 
 
 In armor wrought of dead men's bones, and skulls 
 
 Were cymbals on which ghastly minstrels beat 
 
 The same infernal })oom. Hope seemed to stake 
 
 Its utmost gasp on chances desperate — 
 
 When, near the horizon leagues afar, appeared 
 
 A haze of star-stutf, (juickly drawing nigh, 
 
 A nebula, a comet, shapely form, 
 
 A thing of eyes and breath, he breathes — O Heaven, 
 
 How good a thing is l)reath I The messenger, 
 
 A woman fair I His own long-lost Felipa 
 
 He folded in his arms. "Sweet were the days," 
 
 ►Said he, " when in the early moons of love 
 
 And blossomings of life, together pored 
 
 We over noble Perestrello's charts. 
 
 And dreamed of westward possibilities : 
 
 Through the dull fruitless years I still have kept 
 
 The lonely ^ igilance of hope. Alas I 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 The well-l,uilt plun may fail, the stubborn will 
 May yield to an unyielding power, the blight 
 Of destiny." " Hadst thou been true to nie, 
 O Christopher: it might not thus have been I " 
 Faded from sight and touch the angel form. 
 " Felipa : (J Felipa \ Hast thou not 
 One word of consolation ? Why to life 
 Restore, then as a half-drowned sailor leave 
 To die with hunger on a barren shore ? " 
 
 17 
 
 '' She's gone I her words, ' It might not thus have been \ ' 
 
 Munnis blest, it might not thus have been \ 
 
 1 curse those damned days of dalliance, 
 
 The ground was plushy soft beneath my feet, 
 
 The atmosphere wfis rich with rose-breaths, Hashed 
 
 Prismatic colors, music thrilled, to-ni<dit 
 
 r meet tiie hollow harlot all unmasked. 
 
 (rod, keep those phantoms back, those that have hung 
 
 About my life, and cursed its haj)piest days 
 
 With bleakest nights of helpless miseiy. 
 
 Let not the tempter touch the l>alance, 1 
 
 A single grain would raise to heaven, or sink 
 
 To hell. Have I lost faith in Heaven ? Nay, 
 
 But this strange life, into whose span the fates 
 
 Have forced an age of history, reels my brain, 
 
 And staggers every nerve.'' 
 
 •> 
 
18 
 
 THE DREAM OE COLUM/ii'S. 
 
 \lv heard a sonfj, 
 As if 'twere lV>rez siiigiii;^ in his dreams. 
 
 " Had J stood at the be^dnnin;;, 
 At the very ver;;e of sinninjjf, 
 
 With a Hnu, unfaltering; hand ; 
 Then to wronj^ 1 iK^'cr had pandered, 
 Then Life's ^old 1 ne'er liad s(|uandered, 
 Then my footsteps nci'er had \vand(?red, 
 
 In a thirk and desert land. 
 
 " Oh, what (h'eams my soul have haunted, 
 How tills restless soul hath panted, 
 
 For a love that cannot Im^ ; 
 For when lust the soul doth capture, 
 After gleams of transient raptui'e, 
 Comes the tragic final chciptei-, 
 
 Full of dirge and misery.' 
 
 TIT. 
 
 Unconsciousnkss a moment intervened — 
 
 A blaze of sunlight on Ligurian shores, 
 
 The dear old sea pranced 'neath the sailor boy, 
 
 Who rode his steed freehanded. The bright eyes 
 
 Of ocean level with his own were full 
 
 Of surging love and inspiration, while 
 
 The waves with virgin sweetness kissed his lips. 
 
 i 
 
 r. 
 
 i 
 
T/fE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 Haw ye a soul, ye l)ill„ws ? Are tl.e tl.oughts 
 That play upon thy wondn.us ccuj.tenance, 
 Wrinkles fortuitous of chaos, not 
 The free outHashings of intelligence, 
 Volition in its god-like sweep of strength, 
 Of all the untrannnelled feelings of the heart, 
 Magnificent and subtle tracery ? 
 
 19 
 
 Beyond the mole, Genoa tlu; Superb 
 Behind, he rowed a skiff t(iward open sea. 
 Straight for the harbor makes a caravel, 
 I^ight-winged, and as Algerian pirate swift ; 
 She Hies a friendly tiag, upon her prow 
 One figure Kme, a woman seems, with hands 
 Outstretched ; through all Columbus' frame there ran 
 A tremor. 'Twas Felipa's queenly form. 
 He sprang into the chains and to her side— 
 "Felipa" on his lips, when, lo, he met 
 
 An unfamiliar eye, not the dark orb 
 
 That with its sparkling wine did his young s«ml 
 
 Intoxicate ; yet in the countenance. 
 
 And even in the eye all radiant 
 
 With light celestial, was resemblance strange : 
 
 Felipa in the metamorphosis 
 
 Of Paradise, veiled iji immortal tire, 
 
 Which dimly hid the human it might be. 
 
 " I am her guai-dian angel," thus she spoke, 
 
20 
 
 THE DREAM OE COLUMIWS. 
 
 "S<Mit forth to i^uide thct? ; iicv^'nuon* on earth 
 
 Ht.'i" spirit ]nii(' HJiall cojiIphc*' with thiiio 
 
 In sweet communion, ho tlie Hovtireij^n hiws 
 
 That rule tlic spirit realm f(»r sucii a sin, 
 
 Divorce irrevocable have decreed. 
 
 Columl>o I know thou this, lladst tliou heen true 
 
 To her, lonjt; ere this time thou should'st have reached 
 
 I n blended splendors of tlie East aiul West 
 
 The goal of life's ambition, long delayed ; 
 
 liut tiu'ough her intercession, and the smile 
 
 Of our gi-eat Master, Jesus Christ, I'm sent 
 
 To cheer thy heart, and tell thee things to come." 
 
 Then sinking raptured at her feet, he said : 
 
 " I thought that man despised me, and (iod in looking down 
 Upon this world of sin and woe, V)eheld me with a frown; 
 T thought all hope illusion f(»ul, and in the murk}' air, 
 T saw but mocking s[)irits, and grim wizards of despair. 
 It seemed the earth was reeling from its Ood-appointed 
 
 tr<ack, 
 And the devil and his angels had the Trutli uptm the rack. 
 And T was but its minion base, unworthy of their ire, 
 A plaything, sometimes fondled, sometimes dressed in fool's 
 
 attire. 
 I sometimes even wondei*ed whether Truth were truth at all, 
 Whether God, and Love, and Heaven, were not dreamy 
 
 §hf\idows tall 
 
rue 
 vaclied 
 
 i>kin<,'d()\vn 
 1 u frown; 
 ky air, 
 despair. 
 I-aj>pointefl 
 
 n tlie rack, 
 
 ir ire, 
 
 ed ill fool's 
 
 ruth at all, 
 ot dreamy 
 
 THE DREAM OF COlMMIWS. 21 
 
 That had fallen across th. lundscupe <,f the wayward human 
 mind, — 
 
 And tlmt ,„in.l itself a «ha.l„w, wiH, ,„„ h.hos, ..l,„,.ee, 
 
 behind. 
 
 But 
 
 now I ser most clearly that Truth has its ebl, 
 
 H 
 
 and 
 
 ow 
 
 An,l the g,.«a .sl,ip of H«^^P„ 1„„ thi, little „„,.|ci i„ t,.«- 
 •Sweet spirits tl„-o„«l, tl,e ston,,, if we l.ave .,„|y o.u-s to 
 hear, 
 
 Lean o'er the toweiin" hnlwirl-Q ^vUk n • 
 
 i'ii„ oiuw.iiks with their messages of 
 
 cheer ; 
 
 I'^on, the He,ne„.ch,i.te,l pathway never will the Pilot 
 swer\e : 
 
 Cod is always to us better than our wretched lives deserve." 
 
 TV. 
 
 Thkx swooning, knew no more, till in his dream 
 
 He woke in La Uabida's narrow cell. 
 
 Now half-illumined by the moonlight pale, 
 
 The messenger of Heaven by his side. 
 
 These words she just had spoken to herself, 
 
 "There's power here, and restless energy, ' 
 
 A hero-mind whose thoughts are high, Immortal, " 
 
 Which roused the sleeper. The last word he cau^dit 
 
 " Immortal," and again his eyes were closed, 
 
 A dream within a dream, an angel sang : 
 
22 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 " O ye illustrious dead, whose spirits thrill 
 
 The world to-day, and to its faltering heart 
 Give tone and power ; in mammon-seeking mart, 
 And pompous court, your words are ringing still. 
 
 " Short-lived, short-sighted, oft to human mind ; 
 
 But in the wild and seething curi-ent of the })rain 
 Ye lived a thousand lives : to die is gain, 
 And leave a deathless influence behind. 
 
 " Ye ever felt within, as ye climbed higher, 
 The upward tug of inspiration vast ; 
 And on ye fell, from unseen censers cast 
 By seraph hands, the living Genius-fire. 
 
 " Now, on the mountain top, ye clearly see 
 The golden chains held by the Infinite, 
 The priests and altar fires are full in sight : 
 And God and Truth are Immortality." 
 
 Once more awake in dream, the guardian chafed 
 His clammy brow with Heaven's restoratives. 
 "Why sleeping thus, O sea-enamored soul?" 
 She said. *' The slumbering ages of the past 
 For thee have waited, till thy camphor-breath 
 Should rouse to the rich life of latter days. 
 The imprisoned spirits that have knowledge loved 
 Yet never dared their passion to avow% 
 
 % 
 
loart 
 
 ing mart, 
 rig still. 
 
 ind; 
 
 ■ the hrain 
 
 n. 
 
 r///^ DREAM OF COLUMHCS. tW 
 
 For love of knowledge in the bleai-y eyes 
 
 Of palsied King Tradition is tantamount 
 
 To treason, through dark years Iku e longed to hear 
 
 Thy knock imperious at their durigeon doors. 
 
 The old, gray, childless sea, through centuries, 
 
 Has fondly searched for some colossal soul 
 
 Whom he might make his confidant and heir ; 
 
 His richest treasures, all his secrets vast, 
 
 He would reveal to thee, thou art the elect : 
 
 All weary with the solitary weight 
 
 Of empire, now he steps aside, to place 
 
 Upon thy head the crown of regencv." 
 
 lit 
 
 hafed 
 es. 
 
 5t 
 
 ith 
 
 loved 
 
 He gazed upon Felipa's counterpart— 
 
 The broad, smooth, noble brow, the ebon eyes 
 
 That shook the tender magnetism of the soul 
 
 With swift and myriad flashes through the air : 
 
 The red lips all abud with truest love ; 
 
 The pointed chin ; the soft, light-crimsoned che.^ks, 
 
 And all the generous wealth of golden h;iir ; 
 
 Tall, and with shoulders scjuare which hid her wings, 
 
 A queenly pose of quiet dignity ; 
 
 A face all glorious with intelligence ; 
 
 A voice deep, full, an index of the soul 
 
 Within, and vocal as the nightingale's. 
 
 With sweetest, richest harmonies that thrill 
 
 And captivate the souls of men and angels. 
 
24 THE DREAM OF COLUSlHtJ^. 
 
 Said she : " The sunset isles for thee are ch'essed 
 
 In gold and purple, and tling open wide 
 
 Their palace doors to greet thee royally. 
 
 Afar I hear the tramp of cavalcades, 
 
 The cymbals' clash, the thunderous welcome shouts 
 
 In strange and unknown tongues, yet musical. 
 
 The turbulent Atlantic wilt thou brave, 
 
 And man's base cowardice and unbelief 
 
 More perilous ? Ocean is deep and wide, 
 
 And wrestles fair with an antagonist 
 
 When he would test the ambitious nerve of man ; 
 
 But human hearts are shoals and sunken rocks ; 
 
 A devilish undertow, that would deceive 
 
 The very elect, lurks 'neath their smiling calm ; 
 
 A weedy sea where flowers bud and bloom, 
 
 But the strong swimmer in the slimy cords 
 
 Entangled, like Laocoon, expires. 
 
 " 'Neath unnamed southern stars, a continent 
 Bathed by the e(iuator's sea, so dreaded once, 
 (A sea of fire and heat insufferable,) 
 Warmed by the torrid sun, all wealth of plant 
 And tree and vine in rich luxuriance 
 Alx)unds, a veritable paradise." 
 
 And now she sang, and for the moment seemed 
 A mermaid throned amid the petals white 
 
Iressed 
 
 »me shouts 
 isical. 
 
 ! of man ; 
 L rocks ; 
 
 calm ; 
 m. 
 
 hit 
 ^ice, 
 
 Itlant 
 
 ?med 
 
 ThR DkltAM or coLU.uni's. 
 
 25 
 
 Of a gigantic water-lily— sank 
 
 And rose upon an undulating stream. 
 
 u 
 
 There oceanic rivers roll their currents proudly on, 
 And magic forms of beauty glisten in the blazing sun. 
 'Midst Nature's fairest bridal scone, sweet June doth 
 
 August wed, 
 The orange-blossoms wither not, the feast is always 
 
 spread ; 
 The cassia and the lemon bow before the sovereign 
 
 palm ; 
 All nature halts to worship in the wondrous evening 
 
 calm. 
 There are the precious balsams which assuage the racks 
 
 of pain. 
 The tree of life whose extract soothes the restless, fevered 
 
 brain ; 
 They drink the cow-tree's heavenly milk beneath the 
 
 giant ferns : 
 The sweat-curse of the primal days the tropic genius 
 
 spurns. 
 Jehovah's chariot scatters wide His })Ounties in its track ; 
 The year is crowned with goodness, and the poorest have 
 
 no lack. 
 The virtues of a marvellous root shall all the nations 
 
 praise. 
 But chiefest of all blessings is the rich and golden maize : 
 
26 
 
 THE DREAM OE COLUMBUS. 
 
 
 And chiefest of the curses, which the devil's hands have 
 strewn 
 
 Amon<^ the thorns and thistles, is a weed of subtle ruin, 
 
 Whose poison fumes unhinji:»e the nerves, befog the im- 
 perial mind, 
 
 And blunt the noblest feelings of the noblest of mankind. 
 
 For Satan's fatal footsteps are upon these fields of light ; 
 
 The anaconda hisses from the tangled parasite, 
 
 As spirit of the waters dominates the darkling Hood ; 
 
 And Curupira's clanging cry sounds from the gloomy 
 wood. 
 
 True, these are visions, echoes, in the terror-stricken soul, 
 
 Which drops the God-Idea in the night of sin's control ; 
 
 Yet here leaf-mantled evil hides, and meek-voiced mur- 
 der reigns. 
 
 The balmy breezes whisper death, and o'er the smiling 
 plains 
 
 Volcanoes rear their cloud}^ crests, and hatch their earth- 
 ({uake broods, 
 
 AVhere tlie bald black condor soareth o'er the icy soli- 
 tudes. 
 
 The New World has the starlight of tlie Indian Manitou, 
 
 Take thou, O man, the daylight of the only God anri 
 true." 
 
THE DREAM OF COT AIM BUS. 
 
 V. 
 
 The song mysterious, broken somewhat, seemed. 
 But sweet, and as its echoes died away, 
 Columbus saw, unnoticed until now, 
 Crouched in the farthest corner of the cell 
 A foi'm, a spirit it appeared to be, 
 Enswathed in half-transparent mortal flesh ; 
 An imperfect hybrid checked in its mid-growth ; 
 Of man and angel a rude mockery. 
 But as he gazed, it in distinctness grew, 
 More human in its contour, countenance. 
 And apparel— he described it to himself : 
 
 27 
 
 "A massive head, and long, black, flowing hau-. 
 Which falls in curls upon his shoulders, where 
 It partly hides the huge deformity 
 Of a hunchback, sharp as a bended knee ; 
 His body shrivelled, his weak legs are drawn 
 Beneath him, yet his arms are long and brawn ; 
 His arched and ample forehead wrinkles down 
 On ej'^ebrows creased in a perpetual frown ; 
 Incessant roll his eyes, protubei'ant, gray. 
 Piercing and cold, as of a beast of prey ; 
 The heraldry of stout defiance wears 
 His long and pointed nose, his pale cheek bears 
 The silent historv of ambitions crossed, 
 Of coffined plans, of battles fought and lost ; 
 
:i|l! 
 
 28 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 His wide, stroii*^ mouth seems charged with el()<iuence, 
 
 Yet lingers there all subtle reticence ; 
 
 And on his lip a lasting curl is laid, 
 
 There Pride has feasted, and Revenge has playe<l. 
 
 His countenance a jungle dark and deep, 
 
 Where hideous reptile shapes of i)assion creep ; 
 
 Where Strife and Envy, old she-tigers prowl. 
 
 And striped hyenas of Suspicion howl : 
 
 O'er all Malignity, a cloud-rack dense. 
 
 With liere and there a gleam of innocence : 
 
 His aspect, weird and indescribable, 
 
 Is strange to earth, yet alien seems to hell." 
 
 TV 
 
 f 
 
 
 K!«^ 
 
 The ghost-like silence and expectancy 
 
 Was broken l)y his harsh and high-keyed voice. 
 
 "Avast, thou silly dreamer, luckless fool ! 
 
 To spend in child's play Life's most precious hours, 
 
 Building toy houses but to knock them down. 
 
 Mounted on broomstick steed, with paper crown, 
 
 Marching in triumph through a captured town. 
 
 Others, whose chances have been less than thine. 
 
 Have banqueted with Joy, the sparkling wine 
 
 Of gayest pleasure crimson on their lips ; 
 
 The blazing light from splendid chandeliers 
 
 Of human praise illumed their inmost souls ; 
 
 In the great golden hall of Wealth their names 
 
 Are powerful, spoke in reverential tones. 
 
us. 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 29 
 
 ith el 
 
 o(iuence, 
 
 s playnl. 
 
 reep ; 
 )w]. 
 
 111 the freshet of m'eat opportunity, 
 
 Wise men have swept arlown the surging stream 
 
 Of life, and reached the ocean of success ; 
 
 But thou art stranded on the uplands drv. 
 
 Be practical, old man ! Be practical I 
 
 Do something —catch a tunny or sardine, 
 
 Or drive an ass, if it he thyself, or hoe 
 
 A hill of beans ; you know the maxim old, 
 
 'A lazy man the devil tempts,' — then cease 
 
 To craze thine own and others' brains with fancies. 
 
 ^'Oice. 
 LIS hours, 
 
 WW, 
 
 crown, 
 own. 
 thine, 
 ine 
 
 imes 
 
 Columbus, gi-ieved and angered, answered not ; 
 
 Turned to the guardian, who ])ent o'ei- him low, 
 
 " Who is this wretch ?" Hhe whispered in his ear, 
 
 "The p]vil Spirit of Oenius. Never yet 
 
 Out from the ether vault of heaven has fallen 
 
 The pure afflatus of divinity 
 
 On hiwnan head, wliich as a mitre fair, 
 
 The true insignia indubitable. 
 
 Proclaimed him a high priest to mediate 
 
 'Tween God and man, Heaven's faintest whisperings 
 
 To catch and i)Our in sin-dulled mortal ears ; 
 
 To build new temples in the wastes, and test 
 
 The old by the seven-eyed plummet of the Lord, 
 
 But this accus3r poured his venom forth ; 
 
 Nor yet has God implanted in the soul 
 
 A germinal thought of beauty or of strength, 
 
30 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Which promised light and lielp to struggling man, 
 But he hath sown beside it choking tares. 
 
 " This Homer pelted 'midst the morning mists 
 Of Time, and silenced Sappho's silver tongue. 
 Held the hemlock to the lips of Socrates, 
 Mingled with magic figures on the sand 
 Great Archimedes' life-blood, rich, inspired, — 
 Popilius, at the Formian villa door. 
 He nerved to cut the throat of Cicero, 
 Struck Virgil with delirium, and urged 
 With the whip of his vile tongue to feed the flames 
 The ripest fruitage of the Roman muse, — 
 Lackey of Ignorance, he oped the veins 
 Of laurelled Lucan, and sage Seneca, 
 He Dante tracked, a footpad desperate, 
 And made him feel more bitterly than e'er 
 He sang, in his own soul's experiences 
 Of disappointment and heart-breaking woes, 
 The purgatorial griefs and pangs of hell ; 
 And far beyond the Chiistian pale, he drove 
 To exile Aviceinia, brightest star 
 That sh(me upon the deserts of the East, 
 He stripped, insulted, cursed Averroes, 
 The Spanish peer of the great Stagyrite. 
 
 ** In coming years, the earth's most gifted sons 
 Shall fall before this half-incarn.ate fiend ; 
 
nan. 
 
 mos 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 By their own lianris to ;L,'raves untimely huilefi 
 
 In utter madness ; smitten by disease 
 
 \\\ life's young prime, within the murky torn!) 
 
 The heavenly fire is (juenched, or smoulders on 
 
 Beneath the sun with intermittent flame, 
 
 And hiss and snap of deej) misanthropy ; 
 
 Else in some pitfall dank of vice impaled, 
 
 The radiant force of soul, which God designe<l 
 
 To illuminate wide spaces, is transformed 
 
 To burning lava, suftbcating fumes. 
 
 Yet the Spirit suffers not the light to die ; 
 
 As on one hill-top fails the beacon fire, 
 
 He builds another in the gaze of hell 
 
 Upon a higher sunmiit, so sweep on 
 
 The great processional stars across the face 
 
 Of Ages. Thou of this succession art, 
 
 And therefore thou art plaguetl with life-long m oes. 
 
 Thou art a poet true, and in thee runs 
 
 The ethereal blood which courses through the \ eins 
 
 Of angels. Thou slialt write on virgin page, 
 
 The tablets of the everlastini; sea. 
 
 With isles and continents for characters. 
 
 The immortal Ne\s' World ei)ic. Fear thou not 
 
 This envious si)irit's power, nor list his jibes ; 
 
 I know him well, Cyrcfino is his name." 
 
 31 
 
 Then hovering o'er against him, theie apf)eaied 
 
i» 
 
 82 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 A cliul)hy ch(M'ul), with dark huzel eyes, 
 Brown silky ringh^ts, li(3alth-encriinsoii('(l clu'eks, 
 And face all wreathed in daintiest baby smiles. 
 She on Columbus fixed her eyes, and sang, 
 
 *' Damp not, then, my ardent si)irit — 
 Castl(!-buildin<^ is not crime, 
 \i our visions have the merit 
 Of includin<r more than tinu!. 
 
 " Many, they have lived and ]>eri8he(l, 
 Dreamin*,' dreams the same as those ; 
 Thoughts of greatness, that they cherished, 
 Turned to chaos as they rose. 
 
 " Froth of mental perturbations. 
 Flowers of untimely birth, 
 Seemed those blighted aspirations 
 Flung upon the barren earth. 
 
 " Far away, some great ideal 
 Loomed amid the hazy blue. 
 And some dreamer thought it real. 
 Gave his life to prove it true ; 
 
 " And tliat life to human vision 
 Fell all fruitless into nought. 
 In its God-appointed mission 
 It enriched the soil of thought. 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMDUS. 
 
 " Ah upon those ishuuls Homl, 
 Smiliii-,' o'er the ocean's wave, 
 Where th(! bleak, white rocks of coial 
 Marked the sliipwrecked sailor's yra\ e 
 
 "There the slimy wrecka<,'e drifted, 
 Forms of death with life combined, 
 And through all the sea-sand sifted, 
 And the sea-weeds intertwined. 
 
 " Thus accumulations thicken, 
 
 Till some palm tree strikes its root, 
 And the world is wonder-stricken, 
 As it sees the Howers find fruit : 
 
 " So the lives of men ai-e driven 
 
 Down the loaring gulfs of time. 
 Till combined by wisest Heaven 
 In a miracle sublime. 
 
 " Truth enshrouded deep in mystery 
 Reaches man by fitful gleams. 
 And the earth's most wondrous history 
 Is the record of its dreams." 
 
 33 
 
 Cyrcano muttered, half inaudible, 
 
 Yet his fierce undertone of bitterness 
 
 Fell clear upon a Spirit-quickened ear. 
 3 
 
.S4 
 
 THE DREAM OE COLUMBUS, 
 
 " M«'n must Ixflievo in impels. I liavc Mwcpi 
 A tljousand fuMtusirs from tlu'lr weak minds, 
 Of <j;«kIs, und dcmi-^^ods, of iiymplis and fauns, 
 Of «5enii, satyrs, and I know not wluit, 
 A mon;4r«'i bij'cd ; and in tiic ralihlc i(>ut. 
 Amid tlu' eiasl) of time-worn oiccds, the llamc 
 Of fat('(l slirincs, anil execrations loud 
 O'er i^ods cursiMl, kicked, and trampled in the streets, 
 I lioptMl to di'ive out Sliaddai and his host, 
 Leastwise from every brain <,)f genius ; liei'e 
 The world's <;,i'eat crisis-tij^hts are won or lost. 
 What caie T foi- the rank and file of men ? 
 They are but wild ufeese wed^ani,' in the wake 
 Of some <^reat leader, echoes of his cry. 
 Yet thesf^ yi-eat minds ai'e all too small to forj^fe 
 Straiiiht (Ui, thev needs must di/.zilv circle lound 
 A centre, which thev call Almii'htv («o<l ; 
 And angels seem as kindred to theii- thouijht. 
 As radii to a circle, reaching out 
 And bindinj^ fast their minds to Central Ood. 
 Men must believe — though 1 have sought to teach 
 That faith is but a sad excrescence gi'own 
 Upon the healthful soul : as knots on staves 
 Are varnished o'er and prized for ornament. 
 As gnarls and twisted fibres in the wood 
 Are smoothed with deftest skill, and men rejoice 
 In bird's-eye grain, so this accursed faith 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 as 
 
 Is valuod iiKtre tlum tin- striii«,'lit jjrowtli of reason. 
 
 Faith fastens on tlir steep and slippei y l(!d«,'e, 
 
 Wliere all ((Ise fails, and ;<rows till the fair ships 
 
 Of liberal thoii;;ht, on adamantine rocks, 
 
 Are ground to [)ieces, and all wonder how. 
 
 Yet men have ne'er l)eheld her, murkiest dark, 
 
 Condenses into elemental li^'ht, 
 
 They say ; her })ure, l)ri;.jht eyes, and ealm, hroad hroNv, 
 
 They see amid the faces wild an<l stran«(e, 
 
 That crowd the hustlin;;' avenues of life ; 
 
 Her hand with friendly grij) and manual si*;M, 
 
 They say, they feel and know her heavenly touch. 
 
 Faith ! silly mortals find it cNciy where ; 
 
 Thev see it in the iridescence of stars. 
 
 And babies' eyes, and bubbles, in the song 
 
 Of birds and beetles, in the scent of flowers. 
 
 The taste of wormwood, and the pi'ick of thorns. 
 
 The rubbish of accreted centui'ies 
 
 They sweep away, anci on the naked floors 
 
 C)f truth, they find iui})rinted deep her heel 
 
 Of heavenly iron, and toes of human clay. 
 
 F'aith lives, and mocks me through the jealous years ; 
 
 A thousand times, with cimetei- of doubt, 
 
 I've cleaVed her form, waited to see gush out 
 
 Her heart's blood (m the thii'stv sand — in vjvin ; 
 
 A thousand times, she seemed so slight, I've bound 
 
 Her sleeping with green withes and cordage new, 
 
36 
 
 THE DREAM OE COLUMBUS. 
 
 Ill the loom of Un])elief have woven her locks, 
 And pinned with stout Denial, smiled and said, 
 'This is no Samson'; when the Philistines 
 Rushed in they found but empty broken bonds. 
 Faith seems indigenous to man, it grows 
 Though no oiie sows, he ])reathe8 it in the air. 
 I run a race, I have the inside track. 
 And fleeter steeds. Faith drives a lumbering car ; 
 But Truth, the cursed ally Ox human hearts, 
 Seems half-way down to meet the snaily crew, 
 And deck witli laurel spite of all desert." 
 
 Then, on Columbus turned the full, fierce flame 
 Of his great eyes, as furnace mouths flare out 
 Tji darkness, hissed, " Ha ! Let the angels sing, 
 If princes scout, ajid wise men mock ; the ground 
 Is full of brainless skulls, resonant once 
 With angels' harjjs and hymns, a petty dream 
 That pleased till strong Reality, as Want, 
 Or Death, knocked at the door, and asked his due ; 
 Then the white-winged charmers, startled, fled away, 
 And left to woe and worms their empty dupes. 
 But dream thou on. Life's sun is wheeling down, 
 With cracking whip and speed accelerate, 
 The post-meridian steeps : the end is near." 
 
 Fclipa's guardian said, " The end is near I 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Get hence, thou mocking fiend ; angels and dfeams 
 Shall live as long as thou, and shine as stai's 
 Forever on thy prison bars of gloom." 
 
 Columbus sighed, "I'm weary with the fight, 
 The life-long fight, the dim, unceitain fight ; 
 The liigh, hot pulse of youth is mine Jio more;, 
 My spirits sink, and fails desire, no more 
 I lightly rise when tripped by Melancholy ; 
 And haunting weakness, worst of all, I find 
 The awful, silent hollows of my heait." 
 
 " Give up and cease ! Sign a false peace I 
 Not till this heart forgets to beat 
 I'll call the signal for retreat, 
 With rooted feet F'll calmly meet 
 My destiny, whate'ei' it be. 
 
 " I'll meet the light on yon far height, 
 And sunward lift a fearless face, 
 Though I, alone of all my race, 
 Can dimly trace, through vacant space. 
 The prophecy of things to be. 
 
 " Sublime endeavor, I'll seek forever 
 In God's high school of manliness. 
 Where truth is a triumphant Yes, 
 No random guess; I'll onward press, 
 Though devils rail, T cannot fail.'' 
 
 n? 
 
38 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMIWS. 
 
 
 "Sing thus," said she. "Survey the dark domain 
 
 Of destiny, and see if Nature gives 
 
 To each irrevoea Heritage 
 
 Of greatness, or ^..d power to shape one's life. 
 
 And in the conflict here to rise at will 
 
 Or fall. Is there an iron law of fate ? 
 
 Then man has power to repeal that law. 
 
 'Tis true most drift, all rudderless and wild, 
 
 The shallow creatures of mere circumstance, 
 
 They see no visions save the sights of sense, 
 
 No voices hear save such as hears the brute : 
 
 A mind is given to all, to but a few 
 
 The sense of feeling, to whose souls there runs 
 
 From every star, and mount, and wave, and flower, 
 
 A chord which brings suggestions infinite 
 
 Conceived by all. Thou'rt of the few. Go on." 
 
 He said, " I feel a throbbing in my breast 
 Full deeper than my heart, 1 will go on." 
 
 VI. 
 
 TiiEN, where Cyrcano late had been, appeared 
 A lovely boy, with hair as raven as the first, 
 But with a form all perfect ; and with eyes 
 Of wondrous brown, luring all things that fell 
 Beneath their charmful glance ; as if the snows 
 Had washed it, his complexion white and pure ; 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMFWS. 39 
 
 He stood in all the stately innocence 
 Of life's unclouded morning ; in one hand 
 He held a trumpet, to his lips half raised, 
 The other held a hammer with strong grip ; 
 Tn the high enthusiasm of youth, he seemed 
 As if he would inspire and forge a world. 
 He blew a key-note loud and clear, then sang, 
 
 " Northward— for 'neath the northern stars, flashing heroic 
 
 fires, 
 Are ((uicker heart-beats, purer blood, superlative desires, 
 Great loves that look beyond the clay, volitions more 
 
 intense ; 
 Heaven-born ideals rouse the soul, and (juicken every 
 
 sense ; 
 Exhaustless energies glow around the crucible of thought. 
 Where all the Old and all tlie New for seven-fold test 
 
 are brought ; 
 And molten truth in virgin forms to the eagei- eye 
 
 appears : 
 The miracles of science ai-e the calendars of years. 
 Northward, 'mid everlasting seas of unhnagined bound 
 And depth, lies a great continent, whose crude, unbroken 
 
 ground 
 Awaits the potent white-hand touch, whose alchemy 
 
 transmutes 
 To rich and prosperous states, the savagery of men and 
 
 brutes. 
 
40 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 The hungry world shall turn for bread to these unmeas- 
 ured roods, 
 
 Their snowy fibres clothe the Orient's naked nniltitudes. 
 
 The grim old mountains, that uplift cold faces to the 
 sun. 
 
 For man their tears down wrinkled cheeks in golden 
 rivers run. 
 
 Great lakes, like beads of crystal sti'ung on silvery river 
 cord. 
 
 Lie on the landscape loosely flung from the hand of 
 Nature's Lord. 
 
 This land a mighty giant lies, his pillow Arctic snow, 
 
 While round his feet with fervent heat, the tropic cur- 
 rents flow. 
 
 His bones are iron, silver marrowed, blood most precious 
 oil, 
 
 His muscles of unchallenged strength, the rich, unfailing 
 soil. 
 
 He ravenous ate, long ages since, the forests and the 
 
 ferns, 
 His bowels coal, liis nostril-breath with fiery radiance 
 
 burns, 
 He waits with blessings rich for men of Shem and Ja- 
 
 phet's name 
 To rouse him from his stupor sleep, and hide from earth 
 
 his shame. 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 41 
 
 " Great cities rise these deserts o'er, these mi«^hty streams 
 beside, 
 EcHpsing all the glorious piles of great Zenobia's pride. 
 Old Thebes' colossuses, the Meniphian monarch's burial 
 
 bliss. 
 Ami the Euphratean golden dream of fair Semiiamis. 
 The richest merchant caravels here seek their favorite 
 
 home, 
 The world shall find its centre here as once it did in 
 
 Rome. 
 Swift ships sweep o'er the waters, reck i\ot for wind or 
 
 tide, 
 And o'er the land fleet messengers with lightning foot 
 
 step glide ; 
 Then men, like gods, shall speak witli men a thousand 
 
 leagues away, 
 All nations hail each other at the dawning oi each day ; 
 The Lord shall His Ephphatlui speak to eais that long 
 
 were dumb. 
 And, from the verges of tlie Unseen, Heaven's melodies 
 
 shall come 
 To Earth's hard-sweated labor-slave, through Learning's 
 
 open door, 
 Ideas fresh and wonderful shall ooze from e\ery })oiv ; 
 The wayward elements, baptized by Science' i)riestly 
 
 hand, 
 Stand pledged to aid liumanity ; a consecrated band, 
 
42 
 
 THB DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 ■V, I ; 
 
 '% 
 
 With sapphire eyes, and limbs of steel, and heart of 
 
 living flame, 
 Tiivention, their great captain, leads t(j victory and fame. 
 
 " Here Freedom shall forever wave he r bright and starry 
 
 flag. 
 Old Tyranny in triumph at her chariot wheels shall drag ; 
 The wrecks of Europe's monarchies shall stand upon this 
 
 shore, 
 An I ."orin a floating fortress which shall founder never- 
 
 The le'>p.*iu Superstition, which so many years has 
 craunched 
 
 The very marrow-bones of Truth, whose yell in horror 
 staunched 
 
 The enterprise of noblest souls, as a worm, amid the fires. 
 
 Curls, shrivels, dies, so in the light of Freedom it expires. 
 
 Thf^ dynasties of kings, abhorred — a national disgrace, 
 
 Which makes a fool or libertine the ruler of his race ; 
 
 Ten thousand grievous curses press the Old World na- 
 tions down, 
 
 Because all honor, right, and law are hidden 'neath a 
 crown ; 
 
 Man's God-appointed ministry can never be fulfilled 
 
 On earth, till thrones are shaken down, and monarchs' 
 tongues aie stilled ; 
 
 As monsters of j)rimeval time in marshes rolled and 
 blinked, 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 4n 
 
 So kings, in manliood's inarch, shall be a saurian i-ace 
 
 extinct. 
 Here more than royal men shall rule, and more than 
 
 royal be 
 Their subjects, 'neath the sun of Truth, the stars of 
 
 Liberty. 
 A mightier republic than in Plato's vision stood. 
 Grander than that whose fountain source was fair Lucre- 
 
 tia's blood ; 
 With stronger faith, and loftier aims, with less of base 
 
 intrigue. 
 Than bound the Alpine Switzers in the Everlasting 
 
 League. 
 The hard-browed aristocracies, that with the sting and 
 
 smart 
 Of cruel flagellations tear the great plebeian heai't, 
 Shall build no castle-prisons here, no tithe of blood exact. 
 No titled pride, all villainy shall hide with hellish tact ; 
 Forever in their faces pale, the fateful fact is hurled — 
 Democracy triumphant reigns through all the Western 
 
 World." 
 
 The music fell upon Columbus' ears, 
 
 Strong, wild, half blasphemous, yet struck a ciioi-d 
 
 Responsive, by foul-fingered Circumstance 
 
 Unstrung, but now the angel's touch restored 
 
 Its tension. Thoughts rang out which long had lain 
 
44 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 . I' 
 
 Imprisoned in silence by credulity ; 
 
 Thoughts thrilling every man, as he is man, 
 
 Though sometimes paralyzed by long disuse ; 
 
 A part of God's own likeness, which He s<'als 
 
 Upon each soul He shapes, as Adam first. 
 
 Stands ineffaceable, as God is free, so man : 
 
 The charter of eternal liberty 
 
 The Omnipotent has signed, and every soul 
 
 Hears read anew, "Thou art not sullen clay. 
 
 No beast by instinct led, thou art a Man ; 
 
 The royalty of self is thine, the right 
 
 To think, to speak the thoughts that move thy heart. 
 
 To rule the earth and sea, as T the heavens ; 
 
 To doubt most sacred truths, the hoariest forms 
 
 To investigate, to delve with reason's pick 
 
 Beneath the ancient towei's of Church and State, 
 
 And see if on the rock they rest — or sand ; 
 
 The right to trust the bridge of tested faith. 
 
 Which hangs suspended o'er the vast abyss 
 
 Between eternity and time, the right. 
 
 Yea, though ye see not, 'mid encircling fog. 
 
 The farther shore, yet the abutments' sti-ength 
 
 And anchorage well proved upon this side, 
 
 With confidence, of fellowship inspired. 
 
 In the Great Engineer, to demonstrate 
 
 The hidden counterpart, and see 
 
 The cables wrapped about the throne of God." 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 45 
 
 As the prophet never heai's for the first time 
 
 The awful words of (lod, hut smite his knees 
 
 With horror, wliih' «,'reiit thouy;hts, too vast foi* man 
 
 To appnihend, as symhols, cheruhim, 
 
 And dun, unsliai)en forms, troop tlirou^h liis mind ; 
 
 As liirhtninfj-eved Ijicarnate Trutli met Saul, 
 
 And hlinded with a flash, and filled his soul 
 
 With chaos, till the Soul-Creator said, 
 
 "Let there l)e light" ; as never spirit unclean 
 
 Of despotism, a nation cuising, tears. 
 
 And causes it to gnash its teeth, and pine. 
 
 And wallow foaming, hears the words, "Omie out," 
 
 Uttered by Freedom's God, but yielding, strikes 
 
 Its fangs still deeper, if perchance might bear 
 
 The Almighty Exorcist a fierce reproach 
 
 For thus destroying life — so as his heart 
 
 Stood still, awed by the vastness of his thoughts, 
 
 And blinded by the Hash of liberty, 
 
 The nightmare horrors seized his soul again ; 
 
 A dread sirocco, giving forth its breath 
 
 In deathful silence. His identity 
 
 Was lost, wdth loathing gazed he on himself, 
 
 A hideous viper, whose fang-poison mixed 
 
 With all its brain-thoughts. In a moment canu; 
 
 To break his })onds a ))eauteous little gii'l, 
 
 With golden ringlets falling to her waist. 
 
 In wealth of tresses, Uke the humulus, 
 
46 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 ^^1 
 
 -A 
 
 
 Tlwit Ikhm'ows from the East its jsaii'roii nivs. 
 
 With tciidei- eyes of l)lue, and a sweet face 
 
 Moukled in Heaven's most skilful studio. 
 
 All clad in pui-est white, aiKuiiones, 
 
 CiiKjuefoii, and lady's slippers in her liair. 
 
 Wild roses on her breast, and in her hand 
 
 She held a maple leaf, immense, fresh plucked, ^ 
 
 In all the new-l)orn emerald of June ; 
 
 With it she fanned the sleeper, and with voice 
 
 Sweeter than sunnner mom's wild chorus, sanL' 
 
 " land of my birthright I O home of the free I 
 Accept of the song that I offer to thee I 
 T sing of the land where the tall maple grows, 
 Where the Muses retreat for a summei- re])ose, 
 Where the cool, sjiarkling streams through the wild 
 
 meadows flow, 
 Ajid the strong, bi'acing winds set the young clieek aglow. 
 
 " The silver and gold slumber deep iji the mine, 
 Where the great antlered deer looketh out from the pine ; 
 The beaver upbuilds, by his lone forest sea, 
 His staunch New World Venice of true libertv ; 
 And humming-birds flash through the wild blossoms fair, 
 The ethereal breath of the (roddess of Air. 
 
 " Great lakes where the Spirits are raptured to drink 
 The pure waters, reclining at ease cm the Vjrink ; 
 
THE DREAM OE COLUMBUS. 47 
 
 Nolik' rivers tlHuu<;li limitless ])r<)vinces run, 
 And bind witli their <;ir(lles of ciystul in one : 
 The hoar inouiituin rnn^^es, the Earth's eldest horn, 
 In their majesty lau<,d) the old Alpines to scoiu. 
 
 " Where forests, like oceans transti<juied to <n-een, 
 lloll o'ei- the d(>ad bodies of tribes that have been : 
 And pi-airies, flower span^ded, as the fii-manient broad, 
 Mountain guarded, well watered, gi-eat homesteads of 
 
 (lod, # 
 
 Stand swaying and smiling, like ciowds on a piei', 
 Waving welcome to millions that soon will be here. 
 
 ild 
 
 IW 
 
 le 
 
 ,ir, 
 
 " With white-gauiitleted left hand she graspeth the ]»ole. 
 The north wind is hum))led beneath her control. 
 Her right hand distrilmtes o'er far-si)rea(ling plains, 
 The sweetest of flowers, the richest of grains ; 
 In her healtli-temjjered zone, which the plague-angel 
 
 shuns. 
 Are the fairest of daughters, the strongest of sons. 
 
 " With the souls of the ancients, the mottoes of Now, 
 They reap in the fields that their fathers did plow, 
 They handle the truth that once lived upon trust, 
 And read the age-sepulcln-ed files of the dust, 
 They stand on the hill-tops with far-peering eve, 
 And signal the swift-passing stai-s of the sky. 
 
48 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMIWS. 
 
 " R(!li^'ioii sits !siii^'in<j; 'neatli ever^roeii trees 
 Her s()ii;;s of devotion on every hreeze. 
 And Science is talking at every heaitli 
 Of the wonders of heaven, the treasures of eut tn, 
 While Liberty waves lier ])ri<^ht l)anner on hi<,'h 
 O'er a [xujple the freest lieiieath the blue sky. 
 
 " Here love is far richer, and home nieaneth more, 
 And njother-son<;s sweeter than on other shore, 
 The ji^rass growetli ^reenei-, and the night-spirit seems 
 To lull the tired sleepei- with kindlier dreams. 
 O hind of my birthright ! O home of the fre" ! 
 Accept of the song that I offer to thee ! " 
 
 VTI. 
 
 CoLUMHUs' mind was (piieted — there lose. 
 
 As if from some cathech-al vast, the tcmes 
 
 Of a great organ, mellow as if the breeze 
 
 Of midnight i)hiyed ; then suddenly there rolled 
 
 Such thunder-burst of melody as shakes 
 
 The earth, and thrills with deep and wild response 
 
 The infinite diapasons of the soul. 
 
 Tt died away. Fronting Cyrcano's seat 
 
 Stood forth a tall, fair youth, lithe and erect ; 
 
 With high-domed brow, birthplace of massixe thoughts; 
 
 With large and pensixc eyes, whose skyey blue 
 
 Suffused o'er all his handsome face 
 
7 HE DREAM OF COLUMIiUS. 49 
 
 Tlu' air of lioly raliii ; ho held a sorull 
 
 And wiitor's pen, aii<rel of peace lie seemed, 
 
 Yet on the demon's hite-vacated place 
 
 He ^danced with sul)tle scorn ; his hps firm chisped, 
 The throne of couivi^'e ; as toward the heavens 
 
 He pointed, all his ea<,^er countenance 
 
 Was lit with ])ejit-up fires of elo(|uence. 
 
 He spake, as spake the prophets when their souls 
 
 Were key-hoards 'jieath the fin^'ers of the All- Wise, 
 
 And their strong, full-rhythmed words fell into song. 
 
 its; 
 
 " Far toward the sunset glory is a higher life begun, 
 There the morning light is dawning, now the Orient day 
 is done, 
 
 And its weary nations, staggering under burdens all too 
 great, 
 
 Stumble headlong in the darkness down the silent steeps 
 of fate. 
 
 There unsullied Freedom's fountain flows in everlasting 
 youth, ^ 
 
 And the air bears no miasma from the swamps of blighted 
 truth. 
 
 Europe, old and palsy-stricken, with cold limbs and palled 
 desires. 
 
 Sits and mutters, half demented, by the dying ember 
 fires ; 
 
 Like a terror-stricken miser, crazing o'er his stolen gold ; 
 4 
 
50 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Like a toothless hag lamenting o'er the bridal days of 
 
 old : 
 Could the winds o'er graves of niart3a-s wildly weep 
 
 deserved lament, 
 O'er each strangled liberty could earth uprear a monu- 
 ment, 
 Then the din of deafening anguish would outwail the 
 
 roughest seas. 
 And the marbles stand as thickly fis Biscayan forest 
 
 trees ; 
 All these lands are hacked, dishevelled, with the records 
 
 deep of crime, 
 And the centuries are icebergs from the slow glaciers of 
 
 time. 
 Clear were once the skies above her, strong her heart, 
 
 and great her hope. 
 And the angels thronged about hei*, cheering onward, 
 
 beckoning up ; 
 High the courage that upheld her, pure the blood within 
 
 her veins. 
 Blazed the sun upon her baimers and escutcheons free 
 
 from stains. 
 Loud the trumpet blew to battle, though the world the 
 
 clangor heard. 
 No chivalric soul responded, no heroic pulse was stirred ; 
 Louder, clearer, came the summons, ' From their thrones 
 
 the tvrants thrust, 
 
davs of 
 ly weep 
 i nionu- 
 .vail the 
 n forest 
 
 records 
 
 iciers of 
 
 r heart, 
 
 onward, 
 
 1 within 
 
 >ns free 
 
 3rld tlie 
 
 stirred ; 
 thrones 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 51 
 
 Let the oligarchies perish in the ignominious dust ; 
 Heaven gave ye free-born spirits, and the humblest who 
 may wish 
 
 May with Freedom's God and Champion dip his hand in 
 Freedom's dish, 
 
 Let the lowest claim his franchise, ^ die sacred board 
 commune, 
 
 Be the gold and garters serviles, let the man be the 
 tribune.' 
 
 But their sordid souls were traitored with the coin of 
 princely purse. 
 
 As their weapons rusted idly, fell on them a* Meroz' 
 curse ; 
 
 Cringing backs were deeply branded, lips were presse<l 
 to slavery's gall, 
 
 And their abject ears were punctured with th(> master's 
 bloody awl, 
 
 Bowed their necks to superstition, sealed with their own 
 hands their fate : 
 
 So the golden chances passed them, and the angels siglied, 
 ' Too late. ' 
 
 " Far toward the sunset glory, God shall plant another 
 race 
 
 On pro})ation, good and evil he shall in their Eden place ; 
 Though through ages sorely tempted, yielding half at 
 times the right, 
 
52 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Leaders dead and lines all broken, hopeless seems at 
 
 times the fight, 
 And the best battalions, baffled, face to face gaze at 
 
 defeat, 
 Yet no lip speaks of surrender, and no bugle blows 
 
 retreat ; 
 So the truth is never bartered, well they stand the cycle- 
 test. 
 And the Father smiles upon them, gives the birthright 
 
 to the West : 
 Liberty, the conflict watching, sees the triumph from 
 
 the blue, 
 Cursed and driven from the Old World, finds a home 
 
 within the New. 
 
 " Feel)le are the thoughts of Europe, in her narrow walls 
 
 confined, 
 Swaddled in an infant's clothing, groping with an idiot's 
 
 mind ; 
 To the dogs of princes hath she given all manhood's 
 
 rights divine, 
 Cast the precious pearls of reason 'neath the feet of 
 
 priestly swine, 
 Lost the love that lives in spirit, lost the faith that 
 
 counts its worth, 
 Fijids her most admired exemplars in the creeping things 
 
 of earth, 
 
ieem.s at 
 gaze at 
 e blows 
 he cycle- 
 rthright 
 pli from 
 a home 
 
 )w walls 
 11 idiot's 
 inliood's 
 feet of 
 ith that 
 
 g things 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 63 
 
 Sleeping heavily, like Eli, deaf to words fi-om Heaven 
 sent, 
 
 While his sons, with lust and lucre, sully Shiloh's sacred 
 
 tent. 
 
 How all human ears shall tingle at the fearful 
 
 stroke. 
 
 vengeance 
 
 When God's covenant ai-k is captured, and the necks of 
 
 rulers broke ; 
 Earth shall turn where youthful Samuel doth in humble 
 
 reverence bow. 
 
 Lists Jehovah's call, and answers, ' Speak, Thy sei'vant 
 heareth now.' 
 
 Masterful sublime conceptions, thoughts of God's original. 
 Sweeping down like newborn spirits from their homes 
 celestial, 
 
 Live and rule and bless the people, not as kings of 
 
 doubtful line, 
 But as consuls freely chosen for the virtues they enshrine. 
 
 " Learning builds her palace temples, lordlier than Athe- 
 nian fanes ; 
 
 Where with loftier ambition, purer hearts, more fertile 
 brains. 
 
 Are the New World children nourished on the finest 
 wheat of time, 
 
 Stand they on the dizzy summits Orient sages failed to 
 climb. 
 
54 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS, 
 
 m 
 
 Science draws full inspiration from the new-found fornivS 
 of life, 
 
 Cuts the page of unread history with the Indian's flinty 
 knife ; 
 
 Bending heavens, illimitable, seem to bring their marvels 
 near, 
 
 Newborn stars are daily smiling through the purer at- 
 mosphere ; 
 
 Silent men, with Thought's true sorcery, wildest ele- 
 ments shall tame, 
 
 Dive beneath the deepest oceans, dip their pens in primal 
 flame, 
 
 And retrace the fading letters of the ancient Cosmos- 
 scroll, 
 
 Write on manuscripts of ether the new language of the 
 soul. 
 
 Poets, here, the richest songsters of Great Nature's 
 truest art, 
 
 Shall be spokesmen for the feelings that come jrushinf' 
 
 from the heart ; 
 Thoughts original and lofty, high above Olympus soar. 
 Yet the learned and unlearned oft have felt them all 
 
 before ; 
 For the farmer in his plowing, in the sweat of harvest 
 
 toil, 
 Has inhaled those thoughts sublimest, breathing from 
 
 the mother soil ; 
 
THE DREAM OE COLUMBUS. 
 
 ¥ to 
 
 DO 
 
 And the p(X)r man in his cabin, with his sick child on 
 liis knees, 
 
 Has felt all his soul aquiver with the poet's sjmipathies ; 
 
 When expressed in higher language, sung without dis- 
 cordant note, 
 
 They shall see their thoughts translated, and on waves 
 of rapture float : 
 
 Not the crimes of gods and heroes, not the tales of lust- 
 ful love, 
 
 Not a hate that scorns the human, these inspired pens 
 
 shall move ; 
 Not the dilettante ditties that en wreath romantic scents, 
 Or the kingly leper robe in Plattery's lying blandish- 
 ments ; 
 
 But sublimer, sweeter topics, that shall thrill men every- 
 where, 
 
 Flash the light o'er darkened spirits, ease the loads the 
 
 poorest bear, 
 Hail with hope the common toiler, who the cpmmon 
 
 earth must tramp. 
 Carry sunlight to the miner in his grave of dust and damp, 
 King high up ambition's mountains, o'er the glacier's 
 
 ghostly glare, 
 Bring their oxygen to climbers fainting in the thinner air: 
 These with all the nobler longings of the soul shall 
 
 intertwine, 
 Form a ladder from the lowest to the highest and divine. 
 
56 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBU^. 
 
 " Slavery even there shall enter, from its slimy Eastern 
 
 haunts, 
 Rear its viper head, and proudly fling in Freedom's face 
 
 its taunts, 
 Clothe its scaly form in purple, claim a right on earth 
 
 to be 
 With the sons of God acknowledged, 'neath the flags of 
 
 Liberty. 
 There Intemperance' bloody vultures build on Custom's 
 
 crags their nests, 
 Swoop upon the lambs, and drive their talons in the 
 
 quivering breasts. 
 From their fastness steep and cloudy they in deep 
 
 defiance gaze. 
 Laugh to scorn the bow and arrow, and the musket's 
 
 helpless blaze. 
 Ah, these demons, long and fiercely have they ruled the 
 
 upper air. 
 And their challenges unanswered seem the mockery of 
 
 despair ; 
 Mothers' hearts are crushed and bleeding, mothers' prayers 
 
 seem all in vain, 
 As the darlings from their bosoms stolen are, and strip- 
 ped, and slain ; 
 All the world is red with slaughter, every home its first- 
 born dead, 
 Still the monsters' hearts are hardened, still on human 
 
 woes care fed. 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 57 
 
 " On the liroaci plains of the New World first they meet a 
 stalwart foe, 
 
 Who, endued with keenest wisdom, all their weaknesses 
 
 shall know. 
 Vice and Virtue there shall wrestle in a final, fateful fight, 
 Clash in Earth's great Armageddon, all its darkness, all 
 
 its light. 
 
 All reserves accumulated by long ages for each side. 
 All the perfected munitions, which the future shall pro- 
 vide, 
 
 All the hate of hellish triumph, which a demon's heart 
 can fill. 
 
 All the inspiration hopeful, which a holy soul can thrill. 
 Not a day as once decided Persian fate at Marathon, 
 Not a night as died Belshazzar 'midst the flames of 
 Babylon, 
 
 But through years of changeful conflict drags the fierce 
 and fell campaign ; 
 
 Some are days when Truth is victor, some are days of 
 Evil's gain. 
 
 Days when God's own W^hite Cross banner, i-eelin*' 
 
 downward, borne aback. 
 Almost captured by the foeman from the hands that 
 
 valor lack — 
 
 Days when Satan's hosts are routed, panic-stricken in 
 retreat. 
 
 And the armies of Jehovah chase them with triumpliant 
 feet. 
 
! I 
 
 58 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 " God shall raise uj) valiant leaders, men who fear no 
 mortal frown, 
 Cursed as Paul and Silas were for turning this world 
 
 upside down ; 
 Men of culture, aye, and conscience, stirrefl their spirits 
 
 are within. 
 As they walk amidst the idols in the capitals of sin. 
 What to tliem the gods, the glory, of the modern Par- 
 thenon, 
 If beneath them hearts benighted see no glimmer of the 
 
 dawn, 
 If Corruption's poison ivy twine round works of art 
 
 sublime. 
 And if Virtue's snowy lilies are decoys to pits of slime % 
 As the light abhors the darkness, as Jehovah sin abliors, 
 Speak true hearts of holy anger, earth's supremest 
 
 ortators ; 
 Common sense with genius mingled, strength all beauty 
 
 undergirds, 
 Fire from heaven interwoven in a w^eb of silver words, 
 Stern their challenge to the nations, stripping festering 
 
 ulcers bare. 
 Shaking down untimely fruitage, pouring vials in the air ; 
 These as mighty howitzers shall thunder with their 
 
 voices strong. 
 Hurl the deadly, danniing Truth into the great Redans 
 of Wrong ; 
 
THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 59 
 
 Stronger knights than ever wrestled for tlie phiins of 
 HS])liodel 
 
 They shall snatch the bleeding captives from the bellow- 
 ing gates of hell ; 
 
 They shall lead them forth in triumph, 'midst the 
 demons' gnashing teeth, 
 
 While sarcastic, wrecked llephaim welcome fallen stats 
 beneath — 
 
 This the World's great Coliseum, where beneath the 
 ^on's ken. 
 
 On the sands of Time's arena fight wild beasts of lust 
 with men ; 
 
 And the Christian gladiator shall outmatch the lion's 
 rage, 
 
 Cleave the heartstrings of the tiger leaping fi-om his 
 
 hunger-cage ; 
 Heaven and earth shall hail them victors, shower upon 
 
 them rich reward ; 
 Souls chivalric, humble, say they, ' Not to us, but Christ 
 
 the Lord 
 Give the praise. He stood beside us when all mortal 
 
 might was spent, 
 He was skill, and nerve, and muscle, He was strength 
 
 omnipotent : 
 Never joyous acclamation rang such universal peal. 
 As when all behold that Satan's head is 'neath Messiah's 
 
 heel.' 
 
60 
 
 THE 1)rp:am of CO /mm bus. 
 
 " Here the Church, an ark l<>n<i; (h'iveii, carryinfi ii» its 
 
 thr()b})in<; breast 
 AH the life-germs of the future, finds an Ararat of rest ; 
 And the dove witli leaf of olive, shows that not from 
 
 heights alone 
 Where the great man sits in purple, luive the deluge 
 
 waters flown ; 
 But from valleys long o'er-covered with the murky waves 
 
 of gloom, 
 There the foliage is freshest, and the choicest flowers 
 
 bloom. 
 'Neath a rainV)Ow arch of promise, from this centre shall 
 
 begin 
 A new race of fruitful Christians, who the earth for 
 
 God shall win ; 
 Peace shall rule, but highest Justice shall with Truth 
 
 and Love conspire, 
 At the hand of each man's brother shall the blood of 
 
 man require. 
 As Augustine taught Ihe Britons helpless idols to abhoi-, 
 As great Boniface in Hesse smote the sacred oak of Thor, 
 Missionary spirits mighty shall go forth from all these 
 
 lands, 
 Christ the Life within their bosoms, Christ the Truth 
 
 within their hands ; 
 And the Life shall live though martyrs' blood shall dye 
 
 the ungrateful ground, 
 
THE DREAM OE COLUMIWS. 
 
 61 
 
 And the Truth shull ttdl its .stoiy tli()u;,'h the U.iigue in 
 death is hound ; 
 
 And the Church, so lon^^ letlia)'<;ie in the niunnny-elothes 
 
 of form, 
 ►Sliall arise in ancient {xjwer i)a<(an citadels to storm ; 
 All eartli's idols sliall be shattei-ed, all (earth's millions 
 
 shall b(^ free, 
 
 And the world be all a New World in God's coming 
 Jubilee." 
 
 Ending his song, the singer passed from sight. 
 The guardian angel came, with sweetest smile, 
 And her supernal charms ; a single kiss 
 Pressed on his lips, a single word, "Adivni," 
 And she swept through the wall of solid stone. 
 
 VITT. 
 
 Upon Columbus' soul a calm unutterable 
 
 Then fell— a calm whose very tension knocks 
 
 With strong hand at the trouble-wonted door ; 
 
 Now half awake, confusion reigned once more ; 
 
 Sometimes, he felt beneath his feet the ground 
 
 Of solid reason, but each rushing wave. 
 
 Uplifting in its buoyant arms, baptized 
 
 Him with the spray of dreams : clear thought sprang up 
 
 Toward heaven, a tree branch strong, but soon was lost 
 
62 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Amid the quivering t'oliupje of errant fancy ; 
 Then, as if smitten by an autumn wind. 
 The leaves fell shinnnerin^' down, and consciousness 
 Held u|) on hi<^h her hare triumphant arm. 
 
 A bell low-tinklin«;, sweet, and far away, 
 
 Amid the mountains of Thebet it seemed, 
 
 As if some wether lone was wandering down 
 
 A deep ravine ; then came a clearer sound. 
 
 As of the sleigh bells of W\<\ frosty north. 
 
 Sharp and resonant o'er the silent snow ; 
 
 Then beat a gong in deep and mir»or strain 
 
 Among the mangroves on Ciamba's shore ; 
 
 And as its echoes died came, strong and full. 
 
 The peal of a great Mangian bell, entowennl 
 
 Above a sacred shrine ; it woke the Isles 
 
 And Continents, resounded all Cathay, 
 
 Cipango answered with lier jubilant shouts, 
 
 Angiva, Thilis, and Canaia, all 
 
 The myriad archipelagoes of the East, 
 
 Each isle and shore with its peculiar n< 
 
 From north, whei'e falcons whit 
 
 To Java Minor, and those south i land 
 
 Circled with mystery absolute, all joined 
 
 In one great chorus most magniticent. 
 
 He listened i-apt in highest ecstasy ; 
 
 Then as storm-clouds which long have shadowed o ev 
 
 au 
 
 pole, 
 
 --•"'-^;;*.>» 
 
rilE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 The Htu'tli, with .stroii;,' outline from north to south 
 Lift ohuir away their concave lid of ;i,'looin, 
 And lt!ave hehind azure immaculate ; 
 (So now, ))ut in one moment, swept awav 
 All sleep and dreams- Columbus was awake— 
 And loud tlujre ran^^ Kabida's biills, and san^ 
 The minsti'el monks theii- sweetest matin hymn— 
 'Twas Easter morn. 
 
 " Hushed is the voice of scorn. 
 Anew the world is born, 
 
 Sweet morn I sweet morn ! 
 
 " Sing songs so loud and cleai*, 
 That all the world must hear 
 Their notes of cheer. 
 
 63 
 
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 Tis man's most wondrous theme, 
 ris Heaven's grandest sciieme, 
 Tis (rod's own dream. 
 
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 '* White angels of surprise 
 Whisper from morning skies, 
 Arise ! Arise ! 
 
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 Neath the lightning countenance, 
 Sleep men of sword and lance, 
 Tn heavy trance, 
 
AUG - 5 i965 
 
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 64 
 
 THE DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 " Broken the sceptic's seal, 
 Backward the devils reel, 
 Tlie nations kneel. 
 
 " Christ l)ids the Old, Adieu, 
 Christ lives the Ever-New, 
 Faithful, and True. 
 
 " Hushed is the voice of scorn, 
 Anew the world is born, 
 
 Sweet morn ! sweet morn ! "