O’er which the earliest morn of Asia smiles,
He sounded and gave charts to many a shore
And gulf of Ocean new to nautic lore;
Yet he that led Discovery o’er the wave,
Still finds himself an undiscovered grave.
He came not back,—Conjecture’s cheek grew pale,
Year after year—in no propitious gale,
His lilied banner held its homeward way,
And Science saddened at her martyr’s stay.
An age elapsed—no wreck told where or when