1. ۱A BATTER’D, wreck’d old man,
2. ۲Thrown on this savage shore, far, far from home,
3. ۳Pent by the sea, and dark rebellious brows, twelve dreary months,
4. ۴Sore, stiff with many toils, sicken’d, and nigh to death,
5. ۵I take my way along the island’s edge,
6. ۶Venting a heavy heart.
7. ۷
8. ۸I am too full of woe!
9. ۹Haply, I may not live another day;
10. ۱۰I can not rest, O God—I can not eat or drink or sleep,
11. ۱۱Till I put forth myself, my prayer, once more to Thee,
12. ۱۲Breathe, bathe myself once more in Thee—commune with Thee,
13. ۱۳Report myself once more to Thee.
14. ۱۴
15. ۱۵Thou knowest my years entire, my life,
16. ۱۶(My long and crowded life of active work—not adoration merely;)
17. ۱۷Thou knowest the prayers and vigils of my youth;
18. ۱۸Thou knowest my manhood’s solemn and visionary meditations;
19. ۱۹Thou knowest how, before I commenced, I devoted all to come to Thee;
20. ۲۰Thou knowest I have in age ratified all those vows, and strictly kept them;
21. ۲۱Thou knowest I have not once lost nor faith nor ecstasy in Thee;
22. ۲۲(In shackles, prison’d, in disgrace, repining not,
23. ۲۳Accepting all from Thee—as duly come from Thee.)
24. ۲۴
25. ۲۵All my emprises have been fill’d with Thee,
26. ۲۶My speculations, plans, begun and carried on in thoughts of Thee,
27. ۲۷Sailing the deep, or journeying the land for Thee;
28. ۲۸Intentions, purports, aspirations mine—leaving results to Thee.
29. ۲۹
30. ۳۰O I am sure they really come from Thee!
31. ۳۱The urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will,
32. ۳۲The potent, felt, interior command, stronger than words,
33. ۳۳A message from the Heavens, whispering to me even in sleep,
34. ۳۴These sped me on.
35. ۳۵
36. ۳۶By me, and these, the work so far accomplish’d (for what has been, has been;)
37. ۳۷By me Earth’s elder, cloy’d and stifled lands, uncloy’d, unloos’d;
38. ۳۸By me the hemispheres rounded and tied—the unknown to the known.
39. ۳۹
40. ۴۰The end I know not—it is all in Thee;
41. ۴۱Or small, or great, I know not—haply, what broad fields, what lands;
42. ۴۲Haply, the brutish, measureless human undergrowth I know,
43. ۴۳Transplanted there, may rise to stature, knowledge worthy Thee;
44. ۴۴Haply the swords I know may there indeed be turn’d to reaping-tools;
45. ۴۵Haply the lifeless cross I know—Europe’s dead cross—may bud and blossom
46. ۴۶ there.
47. ۴۷
48. ۴۸One effort more—my altar this bleak sand:
49. ۴۹That Thou, O God, my life hast lighted,
50. ۵۰With ray of light, steady, ineffable, vouchsafed of Thee,
51. ۵۱(Light rare, untellable—lighting the very light!
52. ۵۲Beyond all signs, descriptions, languages!)
53. ۵۳For that, O God—be it my latest word—here on my knees,
54. ۵۴Old, poor, and paralyzed—I thank Thee.
55. ۵۵
56. ۵۶My terminus near,
57. ۵۷The clouds already closing in upon me,
58. ۵۸The voyage balk’d—the course disputed, lost,
59. ۵۹I yield my ships to Thee.
60. ۶۰
61. ۶۱Steersman unseen! henceforth the helms are Thine;
62. ۶۲Take Thou command—(what to my petty skill Thy navigation?)
63. ۶۳My hands, my limbs grow nerveless;
64. ۶۴My brain feels rack’d, bewilder’d; Let the old timbers part—I will not
65. ۶۵ part!
66. ۶۶I will cling fast to Thee, O God, though the waves buffet me;
67. ۶۷Thee, Thee, at least, I know.
68. ۶۸
69. ۶۹Is it the prophet’s thought I speak, or am I raving?
70. ۷۰What do I know of life? what of myself?
71. ۷۱I know not even my own work, past or present;
72. ۷۲Dim, ever-shifting guesses of it spread before me,
73. ۷۳Of newer, better worlds, their mighty parturition,
74. ۷۴Mocking, perplexing me.
75. ۷۵
76. ۷۶And these things I see suddenly—what mean they?
77. ۷۷As if some miracle, some hand divine unseal’d my eyes,
78. ۷۸Shadowy, vast shapes, smile through the air and sky,
79. ۷۹And on the distant waves sail countless ships,
80. ۸۰And anthems in new tongues I hear saluting me.