Am I in a fever? A vision is this
Of nightly phantasy?
Am I aped by a dream? I’m dreaming a dream
Of wild buffoonery.
Buffoonery wild! Methinks in my dream
That I a Saviour am;
And faithfully bear the weight of the Cross,
As gentle as a lamb.
Poor beauty beside me is sore distress’d,
But soon I’ll set her free
From sin and shame and sorrow and pain,
And earthly misery.
Poor beauty, O be not thou terrified,
Though bitter the medicine be;
Although my heart may break, I myself
Will mete out death to thee.
O folly wild and terrible dream!
O madness fearful to see!
The night is yawning, the ocean yells—
O God, have mercy on me!
Have mercy on me, O merciful God!
O merciful God! Schaddey![75]
A Something falls in the sea—Alas!
Schaddey! Schaddey! Adonay![76]
The sun arose, we came to the land,
Sweet smiled the spring to the view;
And when at length we left the bark,
Our number then was two.
THE PRELUDE.
This, then, is America!
This indeed the new world is!
Not the present, which already
Europeanized, is with’ring.—
This indeed the new world is,
As by Christopher Columbus
From the ocean extricated;
In its billowy freshness gleams it,