Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to America | | A Poet’s Prophecy | | Luigi Pulci (1432–1484) |
| | (From Morgante Maggiore)
Translated by W. H. Prescott
KNOW that this theory is false; his bark | |
| The daring mariner shall urge far o’er | |
| The western wave,—a smooth and level plain, | |
| Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel. | |
| Man was in ancient days of grosser mould, | 5 |
| And Hercules might blush to learn how far | |
| Beyond the limits he had vainly set, | |
| The dullest sea-boat soon shall wing her way. | |
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| Men shall descry another hemisphere, | |
| Since to one common centre all things tend; | 10 |
| So earth, by curious mystery divine | |
| Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres. | |
| At our Antipodes are cities, states, | |
| And throngéd empires, ne’er divined of yore. | |
| But see, the sun speeds on his western path | 15 |
| To glad the nations with expected light. | | | | |
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