CANTO VIII.
Land discovered.
Twice in the zenith blaz’d the orb of light;
No shade, all sun, insufferably bright!
Then the long line found rest[[1]]—in coral groves
Silent and dark, where the sea-lion roves:—
And all on deck, kindling to life again,
Sent forth their anxious spirits o’er the main.
“Oh whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence
These perfumes, strangers to the raptur’d sense?
These boughs of gold, and fruits of heav’nly hue,
Tinging with vermeil light the billows blue?
And (thrice, thrice blessed is the eye that spied,
The hand that snatch’d it sparkling in the tide)[[d]]
Whose cunning carv’d this vegetable bowl,
Symbol of social rites, and intercourse of soul?”
Such to their grateful ear the gush of springs,
Who course the ostrich, as away she wings;
Sons of the desert! who delight to dwell
Mid kneeling camels round the sacred well.
The sails were furl’d:[[2]] with many a melting close,
Solemn and slow the evening anthem rose,
Rose to the Virgin.[[e]] ’Twas the hour of day,
When setting suns o’er summer-seas display
A path of glory, opening in the west
To golden climes, and islands of the blest;
And human voices, on the silent air,
Went o’er the waves in songs of gladness there!
Chosen of Men![[f]] ’twas thine, at noon of night,
First from the prow to hail the glimmering light;[[3]]
(Emblem of Truth divine, whose secret ray
Enters the soul, and makes the darkness day!)
“PEDRO! RODRIGO![[4]] there, methought, it shone!
There—in the west! and now, alas, ’tis gone!—
’Twas all a dream! we gaze and gaze in vain!
—But mark and speak not, there it comes again!
It moves!—what form unseen, what being there
With torch-like lustre fires the murky air?
His instincts, passions, say, how like our own?
Oh! when will day reveal a world unknown?”
[1] For thirty-five days they were advancing ‘where fathom-line could never touch the ground.’
[2] On Thursday, the 11th of October, 1492.
[3] A light in the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual light that he came to spread there. F. Col. c. 22. Herrera, I i 12.
[4] Pedro Gutierrez, a Page of the King’s Chamber. Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, Comptroller of the Fleet.
CANTO IX.
The New World.
Long on the wave the morning mists repos’d,
Then broke—and, melting into light, disclos’d
Half-circling hills, whose everlasting woods
Sweep with their sable skirts the shadowy floods.
—And say, when all, to holy transport giv’n,
Embraced and wept as at the gates of Heaven,
When one and all of us, repentant, ran,
And, on our faces, bless’ the wondrous Man;
Say, was I then deceiv’d, or from the skies
Burst on my ear seraphic harmonies?
“Glory to God!” unnumber’d voices sung,
“Glory to God!” the vales and mountains rung,
Voices that hail’ Creation’s primal morn,
And to the shepherds sung a Saviour born.
Slowly to land the sacred cross we bore,[[g]]
And, kneeling, kiss’d with pious lips the shore.
But how the scene pourtray?[[h]] Nymphs of romance,[]
Youths graceful as the Faun,[[j]] with rapturous glance,
Spring from the glades, and down the green steeps run,
To greet their mighty guests, “The children of the Sun!”
Features so fair, in garments richly wrought,
From citadels, with Heav’n’s own thunder fraught,
Check’d their light footsteps—statue-like they stood,
As worshipp’d forms, the Genii of the Wood!
But see, the regal plumes, the couch of state![[k]]
Still, where it moves, the wise in council wait!
See now borne forth the monstrous mask of gold,[[1]]
And ebon chair [also Footnote 1] of many a serpent-fold;
These now exchang’d for gifts that thrice surpass
The wondrous ring, and lamp, and horse of brass.[[l]]
What long-drawn tube transports the gazer home,[[2]]
Kindling with stars at noon the ethereal dome?
’Tis here: and here circles of solid light[[3]]
Charm with another self the cheated sight;
As man to man another self disclose,
That now with terror starts, with triumph glows!