Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79.

Miscellaneous: Sargasso Sea, The

The Sargasso Gulf

By Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838–1916)

IN mid Atlantic are its mazes spread,

Wide as the basin of our kingly stream;

Barred of all hope which hitherward has led

Do vessels snared within its meshes seem.

Columbus, first to thread this weedy sea,

Thought he had reached here navigation’s bound,

But pushing boldly on till all was free,

At length the longed-for, unknown Land he found.

In life’s mid-ocean heaves a sea of doubt;

Wise are the souls that past it learn to steer,

Yet tangled there, who toiling struggle out,

Finding once more the ocean’s pathway clear,

Look back in triumph on Sargasso passed,

And, though belated, reach the Land at last!