* * * * * COLUMBUS. Steer on, bold Sailor--Wit may mock thy soul that sees the land, And hopeless at the helm may drop the weak and weary hand, YET EVER--EVER TO THE WEST, for there the coast must lie, And dim it dawns and glimmering dawns before thy reason's eye; Yea, trust the guiding God--and go along the floating grave, Though hid till now--yet now, behold the New World o'er the wave! With Genius Nature ever stands in solemn union still, And ever what the One foretels the Other shall fulfil. * * * * * THE ANTIQUE TO THE NORTHERN WANDERER. And o'er the river hast thou past, and o'er the mighty sea, And o'er the Alps, the dizzy bridge hath borne thy steps to me; To look all near upon the bloom my deathless beauty knows, And, face to face, to front the pomp whose fame through ages goes-- Gaze on, and touch my relics now! At last thou standest here, But art thou nearer now to me--or I to thee more near? * * * * * THE ANTIQUE AT PARIS. What the Grecian arts created, May the victor Gaul, elated, Bear with banners to his strand.[45] In museums many a row, May the conquering showman show To his startled Fatherland! Mute to him, they crowd the halls, Ever on their pedestals Lifeless stand they!--He alone Who alone, the Muses seeing, Clasps--can warm them into being; The Muses to the Vandal--stone! [45] To the shore of the Seine. * * * * * THE POETRY OF LIFE. "Who would himself with shadows entertain, Or gild his life with lights that shine in vain, Or nurse false hopes that do but cheat the true? Though with my dream my heaven should be resign'd-- Though the free-pinion'd soul that now can dwell In the large empire of the Possible, This work-day life with iron chains may bind, Yet thus the mastery o'er ourselves we find, And solemn duty to our acts decreed, Meets us thus tutor'd in the hour of need, With a more sober and submissive mind! How front Necessity--yet bid thy youth Shun the mild rule of life's calm sovereign, Truth."