Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind, the Gates of Hercules,
Before him not the ghosts 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 sail! Sail on, and on, and on!"
They sailed, they sailed; 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!"
"Brave Admiral, say but one good word,
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leap like a leaping sword,
"Sail on, sail on, sail on, and on!"*
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O UNION, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
‘Tis of the wave and not the rock;
‘Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest’s roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears
Our faith triumphant o’er our fears,
Are all with thee, are all with thee! **
*Joaquin Miller
**Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Hey, cool poem! I never read that before--thanks! :)
That's a great poem!