Classic Poem

I SAW blind Homer by the oceanside:
He dreamed of furrowing ships and voyaged men
That left the hearth where peace and love abide
To plunge the embattled shock of life again...
Peril that burns the soul clean, watches kept
With unseen gods, till heroes they had grown,
Becoming part of distant seas they swept
And every fronting action they had known.

Glad with the motion of the world's affairs,
They tautened sail for wind, they rode the tide;
Wonder went with them; living joy was theirs;
Song was their good bedfellow for a bride,
And beauty, that blind, passionate child of God,
Walking ahead, their ways to brightness trod!