The Great Discovery

The Great Discovery

"Not since the birth of Christ has there been a night so full of meaning for the human race."
-- Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of Ocean Sea

It was a night of destiny
When ninety men crossed Ocean Sea -

A passage west they hoped detection
To spread God's word and protection
Of her who held Christ in her hand,
Unfailing help on sea or land;

To Mary on their journey long
They daily called in sunset song
To ask her Son to help them find
The East which they had left behind.

Not this, but greater was God's plan:
Stop killings at Tenochtitlan;
Freedom based on man's creation
Keystone of a great new nation -
Truth's guardian, and liberty,
Home of the brave, land of the free.

But to them none of this was clear
That night as still they westward steer,
Full-sailed, the wind with awesome speed
Fulfilled poor mankind's greatest deed -

A bridge for those so long asunder,
Revealing two new worlds of wonder.

At two AM the lookout high
The moonlit cliffs afar did spy
He looked again - there was no doubt -
"Tierra! Tierra!" came the shout!

Captain "Christ-bearer, the dove"
(Whose trust was sure in God above)
Thus found his vindication done.
They sailed near, waiting for the sun.

Then, landing, thanked with their first breath
The King known mostly by His death
In pain upon the cross of wood,
(The news of which we still call good.)

This story is not over yet,
Though some doubt or choose to forget
The Man who died to set all free
And how His word crossed Ocean Sea.

2:00 - 3:00 AM, October 12, 1992