COLUMBUSDIED, VALLADOLID, 1506
Ill! poor! forsaken! with life's tide at ebb!—
And I, the man who gave a world to Spain!
Yet as I gaze on life's bewildering web,
One grand design grows plain.
And I, the man who gave a world to Spain!
Yet as I gaze on life's bewildering web,
One grand design grows plain.
Thro' all, oh God! I trace Thy guiding hand;
Thro' years of waiting, heart-sickness, and scorn,
Thy will hath ruled my pride, the scheme I planned
By Thee was overborne.
Thro' years of waiting, heart-sickness, and scorn,
Thy will hath ruled my pride, the scheme I planned
By Thee was overborne.
What matters how earth's brief, dark days are spent,
When for the future work is being done?
In this, Thy work, I was Thy instrument,
Unworthy, yet Thine own.
When for the future work is being done?
In this, Thy work, I was Thy instrument,
Unworthy, yet Thine own.
It is enough, dear Christ! Thou givest to me,
More than enough for this short life's distress,
In this revenge that binds me close to Thee;—
For wrongs, for wounds, I bless.
More than enough for this short life's distress,
In this revenge that binds me close to Thee;—
For wrongs, for wounds, I bless.
I have had raptures, too; ah, the sweet joy
When first that faint fair opal blest our eyes,
So pale it seemed a rude wind might destroy,
Like clouds in evening skies.
When first that faint fair opal blest our eyes,
So pale it seemed a rude wind might destroy,
Like clouds in evening skies.
I see it now in memory shining clear
As at that twilight in the glittering sea,
I see the happy homes that gather there
In the grand days to be.
As at that twilight in the glittering sea,
I see the happy homes that gather there
In the grand days to be.
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