Hark!The bell tolls deep at dawn
From Lisbon’s shore to Englands bourn
The old maps fade the stars are drawn
In an age of gold and canon’s roar
When kings did dream of distant shore
We drank the wine we kissed the cross
And counted souls ere all was lost
The carrack groans the lateen set
Our bones to pay the oceans debt
O!Bear me west where no man sails
Where Leviathan makes his trails
Past Hercules’unopened gate
To seek the dark to tempt the fate
With compass true and faith unbent
We chase the sea’s last continent!
No more the monk’s constrained design
We read the stars we draw the line
Ptolemy sleeps his charts outworn
By da Gama and Magellan sworn
The astrolabe the quadrant’s eye
Measure the earth and touch the sky
Thirty days to see no land
The water turns to bitter sand
The crew doth weep the rigging screams
Yet still we chase the land of dreams
“Fear not ”the Captain cries “nor mourn!
The world is round—we shall return!”
O!Bear me west where no man sails
Where Leviathan makes his trails
Past Hercules’unopened gate
To seek the dark to tempt the fate
With compass true and faith unbent
We chase the sea’s last continent!
Now in the wake where sun doth drown
We trade the old world for renown
Though grave be deep in coral crown
Our names shall ring the ocean round
Farewell fair Europe fade away—
We sail into the light of day
