Out laugh'd the captains of Captain Sword, But their chief look'd vex'd, and said not a word, For thought and trouble had touch'd his ears Beyond the bullet-like sense of theirs, And wherever he went, he was 'ware of a sound Now heard in the distance, now gathering round, Which irk'd him to know what the issue might be; But the soul of the cause of it well guess'd he. Indestructible souls among men Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen; Sages, patriots, martyrs mild, Going to the stake, as child Goeth with his prayer to bed; Dungeon-beams, from quenchless head; Poets, making earth aware Of its wealth in good and fair; And the benders to their intent, Of metal and of element; Of flame the enlightener, beauteous, And steam, that bursteth his iron house; And adamantine giants blind, That, without master, have no mind. Heir to these, and all their store, Was Pen, the power unknown of yore; And as their might still created might, And each work'd for him by day and by night, In wealth and wondrous means he grew, Fit to move the earth anew; Till his fame began to speak Pause, as when the thunders wake, Muttering, in the beds of heaven: Then, to set the globe more even, Water he call'd, and Fire, and Haste, Which hath left old Time displac'd-- And Iron, mightiest now for Pen, Each of his steps like an army of men-- (Sword little knew what was leaving him then) And out of the witchcraft of their skill, A creature he call'd, to wait on his will-- Half iron, half vapour, a dread to behold-- Which evermore panted and evermore roll'd, And uttered his words a million fold. Forth sprang they in air, down raining like dew, And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew.