The Atlantic Telegraph Poem by Martin Farquhar Tupper

World! what a wonder is this,
Grandly and simply sublime,--
All the Atlantic abyss
Leapt in a nothing of time!
Even the steeds of the sun
Half a day panting behind,
In the flat race that is run,
Won by a flash of the Mind!

Lo! on this sensitive link--
It is one link, not a chain--
Man with his brother can think
Spurning the breadth of the Main;
Man to his brother can speak
Swift as the bolt from a cloud,
And where its thunders were weak
There his least whisper is loud!

Yea; for as Providence wills,
Now doth intelligent Man
Conquer material ills,
Wrestling them down as he can,--
And by one weak little coil
Under the width of the waves,
Distance and Time are his spoil,
Fetter'd as Caliban-slaves!

Ariel? -- right through the sea
We can fly swift as in air;
Puck? -- forty minutes shall be
Sloth to the bow that we bear:
Here is Earth's girdle indeed,
Just a thought-circlet of fire,--
Delicate Ariel freed,
Sings, as she flies, on a wire!

Courage, O servants of light,
For you are safe to succeed;
Lo! you are helping the Right,
And shall be blest in your deed;
Lo! you shall bind in one band,
Joining the nations as one,
Brethren of every land,
Blessing them under the sun!

This is Earth's pulse of high health
Thrilling with vigour and heat,
Brotherhood, wisdom, and wealth,
Throbbing in every beat;
But you must watch in good sooth
Lest to false fever it swerve,--
Touch it with tenderest truth
As the world's exquisite nerve!

Let the first Message across--
High-hearted Commerce, give heed--
Not be of profit or loss,
But one electric indeed:
Praise to the Giver be given,
For that HE giveth man skill,
Glory to God in the Heaven!
'Peace upon Earth, and Good will!'