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1902
THE GOD of Fair Beginnings | |
| Hath prospered here my hand— | |
| The cargoes of my lading, | |
| And the keels of my command. | |
| For out of many ventures | 5 |
| That sailed with hope as high, | |
| My own have made the better trade, | |
| And Admiral am I. | |
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| To me my King’s much honour, | |
| To me my people’s love— | 10 |
| To me the pride of Princes | |
| And power all pride above; | |
| To me the shouting cities, | |
| To me the mob’s refrain:— | |
| “Who knows not noble Valdez, | 15 |
| “Hath never heard of Spain.” | |
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| But I remember comrades— | |
| Old playmates on new seas— | |
| Whenas we traded orpiment | |
| Among the savages— | 20 |
| A thousand leagues to south’ard | |
| And thirty years removed— | |
| They knew not noble Valdez, | |
| But me they knew and loved. | |
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| Then they that found good liquor, | 25 |
| They drank it not alone, | |
| And they that found fair plunder, | |
| They told us every one, | |
| About our chosen islands | |
| Or secret shoals between, | 30 |
| When, weary from far voyage, | |
| We gathered to careen. | |
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| There burned our breaming-fagots | |
| All pale along the shore: | |
| There rose our worn pavilions— | 35 |
| A sail above an oar: | |
| As flashed each yearning anchor | |
| Through mellow seas afire, | |
| So swift our careless captains | |
| Rowed each to his desire. | 40 |
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| Where lay our loosened harness? | |
| Where turned our naked feet? | |
| Whose tavern ’mid the palm-trees? | |
| What quenchings of what heat? | |
| Oh fountain in the desert! | 45 |
| Oh cistern in the waste! | |
| Oh bread we ate in secret! | |
| Oh cup we spilled in haste! | |
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| The youth new-taught of longing, | |
| The widow curbed and wan, | 50 |
| The goodwife proud at season, | |
| And the maid aware of man— | |
| All souls unslaked, consuming | |
| Defrauded in delays, | |
| Desire not more their quittance | 55 |
| Than I those forfeit days! | |
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| I dreamed to wait my pleasure | |
| Unchanged my spring would bide: | |
| Wherefore, to wait my pleasure, | |
| I put my spring aside | 60 |
| Till, first in face of Fortune, | |
| And last in mazed disdain, | |
| I made Diego Valdez | |
| High Admiral of Spain. | |
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| Then walked no wind ’neath Heaven | 65 |
| Nor surge that did not aid— | |
| I dared extreme occasion, | |
| Nor ever one betrayed. | |
| They wrought a deeper treason— | |
| (Led seas that served my needs!) | 70 |
| They sold Diego Valdez | |
| To bondage of great deeds. | |
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| The tempest flung me seaward, | |
| And pinned and bade me hold | |
| The course I might not alter— | 75 |
| And men esteemed me bold! | |
| The calms embayed my quarry, | |
| The fog-wreath sealed his eyes; | |
| The dawn-wind brought my topsails— | |
| And men esteemed me wise! | 80 |
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| Yet, ’spite my tyrant triumphs, | |
| Bewildered, dispossessed— | |
| My dream held I before me— | |
| My vision of my rest; | |
| But, crowned by Fleet and People, | 85 |
| And bound by King and Pope— | |
| Stands here Diego Valdez | |
| To rob me of my hope. | |
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| No prayer of mine shall move him, | |
| No word of his set free | 90 |
| The Lord of Sixty Pennants | |
| And the Steward of the Sea. | |
| His will can loose ten thousand | |
| To seek their loves again— | |
| But not Diego Valdez, | 95 |
| High Admiral of Spain. | |
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| There walks no wind ’neath Heaven | |
| Nor wave that shall restore | |
| The old careening riot | |
| And the clamorous, crowded shore— | 100 |
| The fountain in the desert, | |
| The cistern in the waste, | |
| The bread we ate in secret, | |
| The cup we spilled in haste. | |
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| Now call I to my Captains— | 105 |
| For council fly the sign, | |
| Now leap their zealous galleys, | |
| Twelve-oared, across the brine. | |
| To me the straiter prison, | |
| To me the heavier chain— | 110 |
| To me Diego Valdez, | |
| High Admiral of Spain! | |
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