Steam In The Desert

'God made all nations of one blood,'
And bade the nation-wedding flood
Bear good for good to men:
Lo, interchange is happiness! -
The mindless are the riverless!
The shipless have no pen!

What deed sublime by them is wrought?
What type have they of speech or thought?
What soul ennobled page?
No record tells their tale of pain!
Th' unwritten History of Cain
Is theirs from age to age!

Steam! - if the nations grow not old
That see broad Ocean's 'back of gold,'
Or hear him in the wind -
Why dost thou not thy banner shake
O'er sealess, streamless lands, and make
One nation of mankind?

If rivers are but seeking rest,
E'en when they climb from ocean's breast,
To plant on earth the rose -
If good for good is doubly blest -
Oh! bid the sever'd east and west
In action find repose!

Yes, let the wilderness rejoice,
The voiceless campaign hear the voice
Of millions long estranged:
That waste, and want, and war may cease!
And all men know that Love and Peace
Are - good for good exchanged!