From Mohawk's mouth, far westing with the sun, Thro all the midlands recent channels run, Tap the redundant lakes, the broad hills brave, And Hudson marry with Missouri's wave. From dim Superior, whose uncounted sails Shade his full seas and bosom all his gales, New paths unfolding seek Mackensie's tide, And towns and empires rise along their side; Slave's crystal highways all his north adorn, Like coruscations from the boreal morn. Proud Missisippi, tamed and taught his road, Flings forth irriguous from his generous flood Ten thousand watery glades; that, round him curl'd, Vein the broad bosom of the western world. From the red banks of Arab's odorous tide Their Isthmus opens, and strange waters glide; Europe from all her shores, with crowded sails, Looks thro the pass and calls the Asian gales. Volga and Obi distant oceans join. Delighted Danube weds the wasting Rhine; Elbe, Oder, Neister channel many a plain, Exchange their barks and try each other's main. All infant streams and every mountain rill Choose their new paths, some useful task to fill, Each acre irrigate, re-road the earth, And serve at last the purpose of their birth. Earth, garden'd all, a tenfold burden brings; Her fruits, her odors, her salubrious springs Swell, breathe and bubble from the soil they grace, String with strong nerves the renovating race, Their numbers multiply in every land, Their toils diminish and their powers expand; And while she rears them with a statelier frame Their soul she kindles with diviner flame, Leads their bright intellect with fervid glow Thro all the mass of things that still remains to know. He saw the aspiring genius of the age Soar in the Bard and strengthen in the Sage: The Bard with bolder hand assumes the lyre, Warms the glad nations with unwonted fire, Attunes to virtue all the tones that roll Their tides of transport thro the expanding soul. For him no more, beneath their furious gods, Old ocean crimsons and Olympus nods, Uprooted mountains sweep the dark profound, Or Titans groan beneath the rending ground, No more his clangor maddens up the mind To crush, to conquer and enslave mankind, To build on ruin'd realms the shrines of fame, And load his numbers with a tyrant's name. Far nobler objects animate his tongue, And give new energies to epic song; To moral charms he bids the world attend, Fraternal states their mutual ties extend, O'er cultured earth the rage of conquest cease, War sink in night and nature smile in peace. Soaring with science then he learns to string Her highest harp, and brace her broadest wing, With her own force to fray the paths untrod, With her own glance to ken the total God, Thro heavens o'ercanopied by heavens behold New suns ascend and other skies unfold, Social and system'd worlds around him shine, And lift his living strains to harmony divine.