These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Admiral, and say----"
He said: "Sail on! and on!"
They sailed, they sailed, then spoke his mate:
"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night,
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth as if to bite!
Brave Admiral, say but one word;
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leaped as a leaping sword:
"Sail on! sail on! and on!"
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And thro' the darkness peered that night.
Ah, darkest night! and then a speck,--
A light! a light! a light! a light!
It grew--a star-lit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn;
He gained a world! he gave that world
Its watch-word: "On! and on!"
JOAQUIN MILLER.
THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS.
Once a year the children learn "The Shepherd of King Admetus," which is
one of the finest poems ever written as showing the possible growth of
real history into mythology, the tendency of mankind to deify what is
fine or sublime in human action.
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