Confronting the Unknown

The Gorgon Mystery at her gate
     Sits darning free?? Into stone
The timid souls, the slaves of Fate
     Who deem the dark hides wrong, alone.

Fair Guardian of the unfolding Good
     That lies beyond our narrow ken,
Her features wear the varied mood
     And fashion of the sons of men.

To Doubt and Dread her tresses seem
     A thousand serpents hissing loud;
The horrors of a maniac dream
     Glare through her veil’s black thunder-cloud.

To fearless Faith she gives a key
     Unlocking all her secret stores
No maid has sweeter smiles than she
     No friend more hospitable doors

And when she lifts her flowing veil
     To them who seek her love and truth
Her matchless charms np years assail
     Unfold in everlasting Youth.

Who fears to challenge the Unknown
     And cowers before the involving gloom
Goes darkling from her starry zone
     To meet an ignominious doom.

Confronted by the Summons, calm,
     “Stand and Deliver!” the dark Power
Lifts o’er the brave and radiant palm
     With benedictions for their dower!

Forged[?] by a glorious discontent
     They seek the soul’s horizon far—
The eternal Better vaguely blent
     With glimmerings of the Morning Star.

And when their shining feet have pressed
     The shadowy steeps that laddered heaven
Earth widens, and the blue skies rest
     On loftier peaks ore thunder-riven.

While broad along the intervales
     New fields invite the tiller’s plow
And winding bayous wait their sails,—
     Fanned only by the sea pull now.

Old Use, who takes an outworn lore
     From voyagers coasting round the fjord
No star in heaven can tempt from shore
     No beckoning distance here abroad.

He sits and c?s the ancient Chart
     Of Jason and the Argonauts
Despite the thorns and isles that start
     From vaster seas beyond their thoughts.

The Explorer cheered by what is pained
     Still seeks horizons, still pursues
The ever receding Unattained
     And wins new realms with grander views.

The truths we knew not yesterday
     Today he makes our own by right,
For every keel that ploughs the bay
     Of Darkness leaves a trail of light!