All the mill-horses of Europe
Were plodding round and round;
All the mills were droning
The same old sound.

The drivers were dozing, the millers
Were deaf — as millers will be;
When, startling them all, without warning
Came a great shout from the sea!

It startled them all. The horses,
Lazily plodding round,
Started and stopp'd; and the mills dropp'd
Like a mantle their sound.

The millers look'd over their shoulders,
The drivers open'd their eyes:
A silence, deeper than deafness,
Had fallen out of the skies.

" Halloa there!" — this time distinctly
It rose from the barren sea;
And Europe, turning in wonder,
Whisper'd, " What can it be?"

" Come down, come down to the shore here!"
And Europe was soon on the sand; —
It was the great Columbus
Dragging his prize to land.