If Heaven to souls that dwell in bliss can show
The fate of those they love and leave behind,
She, in that Heaven, may be glad to know
Her son was honored with his human kind.
“Each petty hand
Can steer a ship becalm’d, but he that will
Govern and carry her to her ends must know
His tides, his currents, how to shift his sails,
What she will bear in foul, what in fair, weathers,
What her springs are, her leaks and how to stop ’em,
What strands, what shelves, what rocks, do threaten her,
The forces and the nature of all winds,
Gusts, storms, and tempests, when her keel ploughs hell
And deck knocks heaven, THEN to manage her
Becomes the name and office of a Pilot!”
—BEN JONSON, IN “CATILINE.”