Transatlantic Cable 4 – The Visionary

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Transatlantic Cable 4 – The Visionary

The venture-prizer – that was the man
Who knew not a jot about the telegraph –
But don’t yet laugh, he had a plan.

In 1851, he knew a cable could be run
Beneath the Channel, shore-to-shore –
Because it had been done the year before.

More than likely, if not him,
Then someone else would chance their limb,
But it was he who seized the circumstance.

By 1865, his crazy dream had come alive,
With Yankee pluck (and maybe madness too) –
His luck ran good and bad, but he ran true.

Some say that history is just a few great men –
But then, what of the sailors and the bankers and the bureaucrats,
The cable-makers and the engineers and the diplomats ?

But nevertheless, perhaps it also takes the skill
Of a charismatic hope and an unshakable will –
This world is changed and made anew by those who do.

Someone needs to shout above the scrum,
To point out to the hum-a-drum
That this idea’s time has come.

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