O miracle of letters! In these tomes,
O'er which the casual eye so lightly roams,
What magic lies! What marvels have their homes!

By their device we fling our thoughts afar
And track the wanderings of the unseen star;
Or count what atoms in the atom are.

Here are the spells shall teach thee to subdue
The storm-cloud's fire; to sail the uncharted blue
Full-poised athwart the wind; here thou shalt view.

Earth's numberless treasures numbered, — from the small
Hyssop that springs within the rifted wall
To Tadmor's palm-trees and the cedars tall

On Tyrian Lebanon. From the fissured cell,
A moment's generation, these can tell
Life's bead-roll mounting to its acme. Well,

Oh, well they know the soaring climax, Man, —
His Protean heart, his reason's ample span,
Whate'er his fancy dreams, his striving can.