Prince Amadis: 81ÔÇô90
LXXXI.
For a moment the Prince in astonishment mused,
Till he felt his whole being without effort diffused
Thro' the unsurveyed universe, and his new wings
Seemed to drop life forever into the nature of things.
LXXXII.
Then away, and away, and away, — from the haunts
Of poor moping man, and his numberless wants,
Away o'er the regions of beauty that lie
Beneath and beyond the wide dome of the sky!
LXXXIII.
Sense of the power was the very first thought that possessed him,
And infinite space, he expected would rest him;
So he darted aloft on the wings of the night,
And in secret the soundless air closed on his flight.
LXXXIV.
O grand was the hush of sidereal space,
Mid the huge orbs that looked at him full in the face;
There his mind worked in greatness, unlimited then
By the shrill interruptions of frivolous men.
LXXXV.
Majestic he traversed our own Milky Way,
Tracked each winding current, and sounded each bay;
Its collections of worlds are the neighbors, next door
To the planet that lies on Sol's furthermost shore.
LXXXVI.
He was lonely as poet could e'er wish to be,
From all outward entanglement blessedly free
As second-rate greatness could covet, whose charm
Is in license that startles, and power to do harm.
LXXXVII.
He was where the wistfullest vacancy broods
O'er the great empty stars and their bright solitudes,
Where space, running over, petitioned for bounds,
And silence itself almost ached for sweet sounds.
LXXXVIII.
Yet the Milky Way world is our own, and his home
Was not far enough off; he must still further roam;
For the sense of magnificence o'er his soul stealing
Was narrowed, he felt, by some patriot feeling.
LXXXIX.
Yes! the Milky Way world is but one step in space;
It is but as France is to England, a place
Scarcely foreign when seen o'er the sun-misty strait,
With the wild German ocean crowding in at the gate.
XC.
The worlds where poor man hath got nothing to do, —
There are plenty of such in the neighboring blue! —
Will not meet what he wants; oh no! he must be
In a world which no telescopes even can see.
For a moment the Prince in astonishment mused,
Till he felt his whole being without effort diffused
Thro' the unsurveyed universe, and his new wings
Seemed to drop life forever into the nature of things.
LXXXII.
Then away, and away, and away, — from the haunts
Of poor moping man, and his numberless wants,
Away o'er the regions of beauty that lie
Beneath and beyond the wide dome of the sky!
LXXXIII.
Sense of the power was the very first thought that possessed him,
And infinite space, he expected would rest him;
So he darted aloft on the wings of the night,
And in secret the soundless air closed on his flight.
LXXXIV.
O grand was the hush of sidereal space,
Mid the huge orbs that looked at him full in the face;
There his mind worked in greatness, unlimited then
By the shrill interruptions of frivolous men.
LXXXV.
Majestic he traversed our own Milky Way,
Tracked each winding current, and sounded each bay;
Its collections of worlds are the neighbors, next door
To the planet that lies on Sol's furthermost shore.
LXXXVI.
He was lonely as poet could e'er wish to be,
From all outward entanglement blessedly free
As second-rate greatness could covet, whose charm
Is in license that startles, and power to do harm.
LXXXVII.
He was where the wistfullest vacancy broods
O'er the great empty stars and their bright solitudes,
Where space, running over, petitioned for bounds,
And silence itself almost ached for sweet sounds.
LXXXVIII.
Yet the Milky Way world is our own, and his home
Was not far enough off; he must still further roam;
For the sense of magnificence o'er his soul stealing
Was narrowed, he felt, by some patriot feeling.
LXXXIX.
Yes! the Milky Way world is but one step in space;
It is but as France is to England, a place
Scarcely foreign when seen o'er the sun-misty strait,
With the wild German ocean crowding in at the gate.
XC.
The worlds where poor man hath got nothing to do, —
There are plenty of such in the neighboring blue! —
Will not meet what he wants; oh no! he must be
In a world which no telescopes even can see.
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