NEBULA TO MAN 
What work by men together can be done ; 
What risks be faced, what victories be won ; 
And well might fail, when brought in touch at length 280 
With men that had in union gathered strength. 
Yet rugged scenes, far far to north away, 
May some have reached, and where they safe can stay. 
And Eskimos, perchance, their line may trace 
To such lone exiles, forced from place to place. 285 
To south the North Sea waters now have pressed, 
And met the Atlantic pushing from the west : 
And Britain, joined for long, by isthmus lands, 
With Francia's scenes, now wholly severed stands. 
Men from these farming tribes across the sound, 290 
By raft, canoe, and coracle, have found 
The white-cliffed isle. And here indeed there lies 
An open field for strenuous enterprise. 
And brother tribesmen o'er "the silver streak," 
Will come ere long their fortunes here to seek. 295 
Silurian tribes, perchance, of times to be 
In these invaders had their ancestry : 
The tribes by Celts slow forced to Britain's west, 
And by Imperial Rome at last suppressed. 
Ah ! chosen land, girt by a guardian sea, 300 
Small though thou art, grand will thy history be. 
218 
