Poems (Davidson)/Columbus
SPECIMENS
OF
PROSE COMPOSITION.
COLUMBUS.
What must have been the feelings of Christopher Columbus, when, for the first time, he knelt and clasped his hands, in gratitude, upon the shores of his newly discovered world? Year after year has rolled away; war, famine, and fire have alternately swept the face of that country; the hand of tyranny hath oppressed it; the footstep of the slave hath wearily trodden it; the blood of the slaughtered hath dyed it; the tears of the wretched have bedewed it; still, even at this remote period, every feeling bosom will delight to dwell upon this brilliant era in the life of the persevering adventurer. At that moment, his name was stamped upon the records of history forever; at that moment, doubt, fear, and anxiety fled, for his foot had pressed upon the threshold of the promised land.
The bosom of Columbus hath long since ceased to beat; its hopes, its fears, its projects, sleep, with him, the long and dreamless slumber of the grave; but while there remains one generous pulsation in the human breast, his name and his memory will be held sacred.
When the cold dews of uncertainty stood upon his brow; when he beheld nothing but the wide heavens above, the boundless waters beneath and around him; himself and his companions in that little bark, the only beings upon the endless world of sky and ocean; when he looked back, and thought upon his native land; when he looked forward, and in vain traversed the liquid desert for some spot upon which to fix the aching eye of anxiety,—O! say, amidst all these dangers, these uncertainties, whence came that high, unbending hope, which still soared onward to the world before him? whence that undying patience, that more than mortal courage, which forbade his cheek to blanch amid the storm, or his heart to recoil in the dark and silent hour of midnight? It was from God—it was of God—His Spirit overshadowed the adventurer! By day, an unseen cloud directed him; by night, a brilliant, but invisible column moved before him, gleaming athwart the boundless waste of waters. The winds watched over him, and the waves upheld him, for God was with him; the whirlwind passed over his little bark, and left it still riding onward, in safety, towards its unknown harbor, for the eye of Him who pierces the deep was fixed upon it.
Columbus had hoped, feared, and had been disappointed; he had suffered long and patiently; he had strained every faculty, every nerve; he had pledged his very happiness upon the discovery of an unknown land; and what must have been the feelings of his soul, when, at length bending over that very land, his grateful bosom offered its tribute of praise and thanksgiving to the Being who had guarded and guided him through death and danger? He beheld the bitter smile of scorn and derision fade before the reality of that vision which had been ridiculed and mocked at; he thought upon the thousand obstacles which he had surmounted; he thought upon those who had. regarded him as a self-devoted enthusiast, a visionary madman; and his full heart throbbed in gratitude to Him whose Spirit had inspired him, whose voice had sent him forth, and whose arm had protected him.
1824.
