The Poems and Prose Remains of Arthur Hugh Clough/Volume 2/Columbus
COLUMBUS.
How in God's name did Columbus get overIs a pure wonder to me, I protest,Cabot, and Raleigh too, that well-read rover,Frobisher, Dampier, Drake, and the rest.Bad enough all the same,For them that after came,But, in great Heaven's name,How he should ever thinkThat on the other brinkOf this wild waste terra firma should be,Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me.
How a man ever should hope to get thither,E'en if he knew that there was another side;But to suppose he should come any whither,Sailing straight on into chaos untried,In spite of the motionAcross the whole ocean,To stick to the notionThat in some nook or bendOf a sea without endHe should find North and South America,Was a pure madness, indeed I must say, to me.
What if wise men had, as far back as Ptolemy,Judged that the earth like an orange was round,None of them ever said, Come along, follow me,Sail to the West, and the East will be found.Many a day beforeEver they'd come ashore,From the 'San Salvador,'Sadder and wiser menThey'd have turned back again;And that he did not, but did cross the sea,Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me.