circumstance,
Until at last we fully care and dare
To make within ourselves divinity."

"And what of all the others," Celia said,
"Who ventured brave as you? What of the dead?"
Again I saw the halo in her hair
And said: "The dead sail forward, hid behind
This wave that we ourselves must mount to find
The eternal way.
Adventurers of long ago
Seeking a richer gain than earthy gold,
They have left for us, half-told,
Their guesses of the port, more numerous and blind
Than their unnumbered and forgotten faces.
... And though today, as then,
Death is a wind blowing them forward out of sight and out of mind,
Yet in familiar and in unfamiliar places
Inquiring by what means I may
The destination of the wind
Of death, I have found signs and traces
Of the way they go
And with a quicker heart I have beheld again
In visions, from my ship at sea,
The great new world confronting me,
Where, yesterday,
Today, tomorrow, dwell my countrymen."

And then I looked away,
Over the pasture and the valley, to the New Hampshire town....
And my heart's acclaim went down,
To Florida, Wisconsin, California,
And brought a good report to Celia:
"My ship America,
This whole wide-timbered land,
Well captained and well manned,
Ascends the sea
Of time, carrying me
And many passengers.
And every cabin stirs
With the pulsing of its engine over the sway of time,
Yes, every state and city, every village, every farm,
And every heart and everyone's right arm.
... Celia, hold out your hand,
Or anyone in any field or street, hold out your hand--
And I can see it pulse the massive climb
And dip
Of this America,
My ship!"

"Why make your ship so small?
Can your America contain them all?"
How wisely I replied
In the province of my pride:
"But these are my own shipmates, these
Who share my ship America with me!
... On many seas
On other ships, even the ancient ships of Greece,
Have other immigrants set sail for peace.
But these are my own shipmates whom I see
At hand--these are my company."
"What have you said," she cried,
"Thinking you knew?
Whom have you called your shipmates? You were wrong!
Your ship is strong
With a more various crew
Than any one man's country could provide,
To make it ride
So high and manifold and so complete.
This is the engine-beat
Of life itself, the ship of ships.