Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.
The Tomb of Columbus
By Henry Howard Brownell (1820–1872)A
And shrines, and pictured saints! The sun yet lingered
On Cuzco’s mountains, and the fragrant breath
Of unknown tropic flowers came o’er my path,
Wafted—how pleasantly! for I had been
Long on the seas, and their salt waveless glare
Had made green fields a longing. At the port
I left our bark, with her tired mariners;
And wandered on, amid gay-colored dwellings,
Through the great square, and through the narrow streets,
Till this old fane, inviting, stayed my steps.
And pensive spirit of the place, I stood
By the High Altar,—near it, on the wall,
A tablet of plain marble met my view,
Modestly wrought,—whereon an effigy,
And a few simple words in a strange tongue,
Telling “Here lies Columbus.” And that niche,—
That narrow space held all now left of him
For whom the ancient world was once too little!
Those patient, manly limbs? the gift of Spain
To him who gave a world? (in the king’s name
’T was written thus,)—he kept them to the last,
And charged they should lie with him in the grave.
Enshrined in some vast pile, some gorgeous dome,
Reared by Castile to him who made her name
Great in the nations. But he needs them not.
To rest surrounded by his own high deeds,—
Like the great builder laid beneath the temple
He reared. “If thou wouldst view his monument,
Look round thee.” No severe majestic column,—
No mountain-piled, eternal pyramid,—
Such as a world might raise to its discoverer,
Marks his repose. But the keel-crowded port,
And the green island, and the waving palms,
And the deep murmur of a peopled city,
And the great ocean whitened with new sails,
And the wide continent stretching beyond,—
All, in a voice more eloquent than words,—
Inscription,—told of him that lived and died.
(If, in the tangled chain of crossed events
We shudder now to dwell upon, this soul
Had ’scaped the fatal blank of non-existence),
Even now, I might have slaved in some old sea-port,
Bowed to the oar,—or delved in Hunnish mines,
A serf,—or toiled a reaper in the fields
Of “merry England,”—none too merry now!
From his long labors!—all was calm repose.
Within, such holy stillness,—but, alas!
Without, (sole stain on that great honored name,)
A dismal sound of fetters! the chain-gang
Passing just then, with its accursed clank.
Gazed with an awe more reverent than the pile
Heaped over king or kaiser could inspire.
On those calm, resolute features ye might read,
As in a book, his strange, eventful story.
There was the faith; the long-enduring hope,
More than Ulyssean; the courage high,—
That fought the infidel,—and with stout heart,
Clung to the shattered oar, which bore a greater
Than Cæsar and his fortunes,—and when all
Cried out “We sail to Death!” held firmly on
Through storm and sunshine. In those furrowed lines,
As on some faithful chart, might still be traced
The weary voyaging of many years:
That restless spirit pent in narrow limits,
Yet ever looking with unquiet eye,
Beyond old landmarks,—with unwearied soul,
Still searching, prying into the unknown,
And hoarding richer sea-lore,—till at last,
Possessed and haunted of one grand belief,—
One mighty thought no wretchedness could lay.
Wandering from court to court,—his wondrous tale
Lost in half-heeding, dull, incredulous ears.
The patient toil,—the honorable want,
Endured so nobly,—in his threadbare coat,
Mocked by the rabble,—the half-uttered jeer,—
And the pert finger tapping on the head.
May Heaven accord us patience! as to him.
Thy lonely convent overlooks the sea
(Soon to be furrowed by ten thousand keels),
He waits, preferring no immodest suit,—
A little bread and water for his boy,
O’ertasked with travel? then the welcome in,
And the good friar,—saints receive his soul!
Before them all, a simple mariner,
He stands, unawed by the solemnity
Of gowns and caps,—with courteous, grave demeanor,
And in plain words unfolds his noble purpose.
The toil of a long life,—a deathless name,—
The undetermined fates of all to come,—
Staked on his prow,—it is no little thing
Will turn aside that soul, long resolute
(Though every heart grow faint, and every tongue
Murmur in mutiny) to hold its course,
Onward, still onward, through the pathless void,
The lone untravelled wilderness of waves,—
Onward! still onward! we shall find it yet!
On the high deck of a returning bark,
(Returning from that land so lately found!)
A spectacle! those aged, honored limbs,
Gyved like a felon’s, while the hooting crowd
Sent curses in her wake. But when arrived,
Again exalted, favored of the crown,
And courted by the noblest,—who forgets,
With his gray hairs uncovered, how he knelt
Before his royal mistress (that great heart,
Nor insult, nor disgrace, nor chains could move,
O’ercome with kindness), weeping like a child?
When, now aware of the last hour approaching,
He laid the world, so long pursued, aside;
Forgave his foes, and setting decently
His house in order, with his latest breath
Commended that great soul to Him who gave it,
Who seldom hath received or given a greater.
And haunted by old thoughts, the twilight shadows
O’ertook me, still beside the sepulchre
Reclined in pleasant gloom, and loath to leave.
Anon a train of dark-stoled priests swept in,
And chanted forth old hymns. Was it profane
To deem their holy strain a requiem
O’er him, whose mighty ashes lay enshrined
So near his Maker? but for whom, perchance,
The sound of anthem and of chant sublime,
And old Te Deum’s solemn majesty,
Had never echoed in the Western World.
Floated, and swelled, and sank, and died away.
So all departed,—and among the rest,
That spell upon my soul yet lingering,
I went my way,—and, passing to our ship,
Culled a few flowers, yet springing on the spot,
Where, wearied with long travail o’er the deep,
He landed (so they tell), and said the mass,
Beneath a tall and goodly Ceiba-tree.
But that is gone,—and all will soon be gone.