We sailed and sailed upon the desert sea <br />Where for whole days we alone seemed to be. <br />At last we saw a dim, vague line arise <br />Between the empty billows and the skies, <br />That grew and grew until it wore the shape <br />Of cove and inlet, promontory and cape; <br />Then hills and valleys, rivers, fields, and woods, <br />Steeples and roofs, and village neighborhoods. <br />And then I thought, “Sometime I shall embark <br />Upon a sea more desert and more dark <br />Than ever this was, and between the skies <br />And empty billows I shall see arise <br />Another world out of that waste and lapse, <br />Like yonder land. Perhaps—perhaps—perhaps!”<br /><br />William Dean Howells<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hope-413/
