Prince Amadis: 231ÔÇô240
CCXXXI.
He saw and he handled the powdery stuff,
The insoluble atoms the world is made of;
He divined how their forces, their scent and their taste
All came from the patterns in which they were placed.
CCXXXII.
He saw how the rocky foundations of matter
Were volatile, weightless, and fluent by nature;
How all in swift currents was flowing and crossing,
And staying with no one and never reposing.
CCXXXIII.
He shall rifle the universe far as it stretches,
He shall look o'er the outside of space where it reaches
The confines of nothing, and exhaust if he can
All the beauty God made, save the grand heart of man.
CCXXXIV.
Thus over the world for long years he was borne,
To the lands of the sunset, the lands of the morn;
And summer-winds fanned him wherever he went,
And the soft charms of sunshine with moonlight were blent.
CCXXXV.
Not a nook, not a hollow the whole planet over,
Where he did not fresh wonder, fresh beauty discover,
From the gardens of ocean the green billows under.
To the lone mountain top which belongs to the condor.
CCXXXVI.
Earth, water, air, fire, were his loves at the first;
Then under-earth growths, where the metals are nursed;
Then the outlines of landscapes, and mountains' grave faces,
And the green things that grow in tropical places.
CCXXXVII.
He heard the plants breathe out their soft tiny sighs,
And he saw chemist air dole them out their supplies;
He asked of the flowers, and they answered him right,
Why some sleep with their eyes open all through the night.
CCXXXVIII.
He enquired of the solar beam, how it enchanted
The blossoms to take just the mixed hues it wanted:
He watched threadlike roots pierce the clay, cleave the rock,
Strong as bodkins of steel, slow as hands of a clock.
CCXXXIX.
Sometimes he lay on a cloud, and looked down
On the field and the woodland, blue sea and white town;
And he thought earth's geography surely was given
To be a substantial reflection of heaven.
CCXL.
He studied the natures and instincts of beasts,
And saw possible worlds imaged deep in their breasts;
And he read a whole science newly-made in the features,
The deep tender wildness of the faces of creatures.
He saw and he handled the powdery stuff,
The insoluble atoms the world is made of;
He divined how their forces, their scent and their taste
All came from the patterns in which they were placed.
CCXXXII.
He saw how the rocky foundations of matter
Were volatile, weightless, and fluent by nature;
How all in swift currents was flowing and crossing,
And staying with no one and never reposing.
CCXXXIII.
He shall rifle the universe far as it stretches,
He shall look o'er the outside of space where it reaches
The confines of nothing, and exhaust if he can
All the beauty God made, save the grand heart of man.
CCXXXIV.
Thus over the world for long years he was borne,
To the lands of the sunset, the lands of the morn;
And summer-winds fanned him wherever he went,
And the soft charms of sunshine with moonlight were blent.
CCXXXV.
Not a nook, not a hollow the whole planet over,
Where he did not fresh wonder, fresh beauty discover,
From the gardens of ocean the green billows under.
To the lone mountain top which belongs to the condor.
CCXXXVI.
Earth, water, air, fire, were his loves at the first;
Then under-earth growths, where the metals are nursed;
Then the outlines of landscapes, and mountains' grave faces,
And the green things that grow in tropical places.
CCXXXVII.
He heard the plants breathe out their soft tiny sighs,
And he saw chemist air dole them out their supplies;
He asked of the flowers, and they answered him right,
Why some sleep with their eyes open all through the night.
CCXXXVIII.
He enquired of the solar beam, how it enchanted
The blossoms to take just the mixed hues it wanted:
He watched threadlike roots pierce the clay, cleave the rock,
Strong as bodkins of steel, slow as hands of a clock.
CCXXXIX.
Sometimes he lay on a cloud, and looked down
On the field and the woodland, blue sea and white town;
And he thought earth's geography surely was given
To be a substantial reflection of heaven.
CCXL.
He studied the natures and instincts of beasts,
And saw possible worlds imaged deep in their breasts;
And he read a whole science newly-made in the features,
The deep tender wildness of the faces of creatures.
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