The world as it was known to them and tried
Adventurous keels on many an unknown strand?
Parents of mighty nations, kings of the sea!
Fair-haired, strong-limbed path-blazers of the deep!
How full a life was theirs, how broad and free,—
Passing one day Gibraltar’s tropic steep,
Seeking a while some Northern coast and drear,
Or sailing far to find the Western hemisphere!