Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COLUMBUS DYING [MAY 20, 1506], by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR Poet's Biography First Line: Hark! Do I hear again the roar Last Line: Into thy hands I give my soul! Alternate Author Name(s): Dean Subject(s): Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506); Explorers; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers | ||||||||
HARK! do I hear again the roar Of the tides by the Indies sweeping down? Or is it the surge from the viewless shore That swells to bear me to my crown? Life is hollow and cold and drear With smiles that darken and hopes that flee; And, far from its winds that faint and veer, I am ready to sail the vaster sea! Lord, Thou knowest I love Thee best; And that scorning peril and toil and pain, I held my way to the mystic West, Glory for Thee and Thy Church to gain. And Thou didst lead me, only Thou, Cheering my heart in cloud and calm, Till the dawn my glad, victorious prow Greeted Thine isles of bloom and balm. And then, O gracious, glorious Lord, I saw Thy face, and all heaven came nigh And my soul was lost in that rich reward, And ravished with hope of the bliss on high, So, I can meet the sovereign's frown -- My dear Queen gone -- with a large disdain; For the time will come when his chief renown Will be that I sailed from his realm of Spain. I have found new Lands -- a World, maybe, Whose splendor will yet the Old outshine; And life and death are alike to me, For earth will honor, and heaven is mine. Is mine! -- What songs of sweet accord! What billows that nearer, gentler roll! Is mine! -- Into Thy hands, O Lord, Into Thy hands I give my soul! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SHACKLETON by MADELINE DEFREES AMERICA IS HARD TO SEE by ROBERT FROST CONCERNING THE RIGHT TO LIFE by JORIE GRAHAM THE HEAD ON THE TABLE by JOHN HAINES PSALM OF THE WEST: SONNET ON COLUMBUS: 1 by SIDNEY LANIER PSALM OF THE WEST: SONNET ON COLUMBUS: 2 by SIDNEY LANIER PSALM OF THE WEST: SONNET ON COLUMBUS: 3 by SIDNEY LANIER PSALM OF THE WEST: SONNET ON COLUMBUS: 4 by SIDNEY LANIER SA-CA-GA-WE-A; THE INDIAN GIRL WHO GUIDED LEWIS AND CLARK by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR |
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