Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79. | | | | Miscellaneous: Sargasso Sea, The | | The Sargasso Gulf | | Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838–1916) |
| | | IN mid Atlantic are its mazes spread, | |
| Wide as the basin of our kingly stream; | |
| Barred of all hope which hitherward has led | |
| Do vessels snared within its meshes seem. | |
| Columbus, first to thread this weedy sea, | 5 |
| Thought he had reached here navigation’s bound, | |
| But pushing boldly on till all was free, | |
| At length the longed-for, unknown Land he found. | |
| In life’s mid-ocean heaves a sea of doubt; | |
| Wise are the souls that past it learn to steer, | 10 |
| Yet tangled there, who toiling struggle out, | |
| Finding once more the ocean’s pathway clear, | |
| Look back in triumph on Sargasso passed, | |
| And, though belated, reach the Land at last! | | | | |
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