Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier

The Atlantic Cable

O LONELY bay of Trinity,
  O dreary shores, give ear!
Lean down unto the white-lipped sea
  The voice of God to hear!

From world to world his couriers fly,
  Thought-winged and shod with fire;
The angel of his stormy sky
  Rides down the sunken wire.

What saith the herald of the Lord?
  “The world’s long strife is done;
Close wedded by that mystic cord,
  Its continents are one.

“And one in heart, as one in blood,
  Shall all her peoples be;
The hands of human brotherhood
  Are clasped beneath the sea.

“Through Orient seas, o’er Afric’s plain
  And Asian mountains borne,
The vigor of the Northern brain
  Shall nerve the world outworn.

“From clime to clime, from shore to shore,
  Shall thrill the magic thread;
The new Prometheus steals once more
  The fire that wakes the dead.”

Throb on, strong pulse of thunder! beat
  From answering beach to beach;
Fuse nations in thy kindly heat,
  And melt the chains of each!

Wild terror of the sky above,
  Glide tame and dumb below!
Bear gently, Ocean’s carrier-dove,
  Thy errands to and fro.

Weave on, swift shuttle of the Lord,
  Beneath the deep so far,
The bridal robe of earth’s accord,
  The funeral shroud of war!

For lo! the fall of Ocean’s wall
  Space mocked and time outrun;
And round the world the thought of all
  Is as the thought of one!

The poles unite, the zones agree,
  The tongues of striving cease;
As on the Sea of Galilee
  The Christ is whispering, Peace!

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