I, O Melampus, halting, stand at gaze: I, liberated, look abroad on life, Love, and distress, and dusty travelling ways, The steersman’s helm, the surgeon’s helpful knife, On the lone ploughman’s earth-upturning share, The revelry of cities and the sound Of seas, and mountain-tops aloof in air, And of the circling earth the unsupported round: I, looking, wonder: I, intent, adore; And, O Melampus, reaching forth my hands In adoration, cry aloud and soar In spirit, high above the supine lands And the low caves of mortal things, and flee To the last fields of the universe untrod, Where is no man, nor any earth, nor sea, And the contented soul is all alone with God. STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF MEN STRANGE are the ways of men, And strange the ways of God! We tread the mazy paths That all our fathers trod. We tread them undismayed, And undismayed behold The portents of the sky, The things that were of old. The fiery stars pursue Their course in heav’n on high; And round the ‘leaguered town, Crest-tossing heroes cry. Crest-tossing heroes cry; And martial fifes declare How small, to mortal minds, Is merely mortal care. And to the clang of steel And cry of piercing flute Upon the azure peaks A God shall plant his foot: A God in arms shall stand, And seeing wide and far The green and golden earth, The killing tide of war, He, with uplifted arm, Shall to the skies proclaim The gleeful fate of man, The noble road to fame! THE WIND BLEW SHRILL AND SMART THE wind blew shrill and smart, And the wind awoke my heart Again to go a-sailing o’er the sea, To hear the cordage moan And the straining timbers groan, And to see the flying pennon lie a-lee. O sailor of the fleet, It is time to stir the feet! It’s time to man the dingy and to row! It’s lay your hand in mine And it’s empty down the wine, And it’s drain a health to death before we go! To death, my lads, we sail; And it’s death that blows the gale And death that holds the tiller as we ride. For he’s the king of all In the tempest and the squall, And the ruler of the Ocean wild and wide! MAN SAILS THE DEEP AWHILE MAN sails the deep awhile; Loud runs the roaring tide; The seas are wild and wide; O’er many a salt, o’er many a desert mile, The unchained breakers ride, The quivering stars beguile. Hope bears the sole command; Hope, with unshaken eyes, Sees flaw and storm arise; Hope, the good steersman, with unwearying hand, Steers, under changing skies, Unchanged toward the land.