Journey

[Princess Zelda of Hyrule]

“What, low spirit, can I write to bring
You here? What words can resurrect a sun
Warm as the Godsent one that sang to you
In summer - or the warmer, brighter thought
That home and heaven and their people live
Around you on your island, not detained
On water tantalizing miles away?”

"They're far away, they're far away," cried one,
The tears she swallowed swelling in her throat.
"I've grasped with words, and strained my voice across
The empty galaxy. You say it is
A sea; to me, a vacuum with no waves,
With only spreading night from shore to shore
Through which I'll fall and die - if there is grace."

Another moaned, "A vacuum with no waves,
You think? Yet every time I dare to shove
With steady oar, and urge myself ahead
To where my Godmade future calls, the dark
Herds, heaving, swelling, rearing their high crests,
Steal up my boat and send it back to shore--
My God! The loveliness that holds me back!"

A third one, rising, thought, "If what we chose
To cross this sea, this night, will not suffice,
But only will forsake, then let it be;
For one God-given heart inspires our veins
With blood that agonizes for the land
Ahead, and makes our purpose one and strong.
So I believe!" and stepped into the sea.

Some cried, “Good God!” Some sat admiring; some
Did not believe, and waited for the snap
Of foaming jaws above another sea-snatched.
But the eye of dawn had opened; from
The East, a coil of light, extended like
A hand of Christ, trailed out to where she stood
Alone, and caught her in its fiery palm.

It rolled like honey on the burnt-out dark,
And all the sea became a field of sun,
The waves like waves of grass in Heaven, each
One shouting, laughing, running like a child
Into the arms of God. She turned around
To see her comrades’ faces, but despair
From leagues below had drunk them from the day.