“Know then” (so ’gan the rapt inspired bard) “This glorious earth, on which we live and move, Sings as it spins (its Maker’s chief regard, Scene of man’s fall, and eke redeeming love), In loveliest harmony like yon orbs above; With gentle slope that gives the varied year Revolving, deviates not its track to rove, And on its axis doth diurnal steer: Hence day and night, sweet change, harmonious doth appear. CXCV. “And yon fair moon, gem of the silent night, Is earth’s attendant handmaid seen to wait; Her head ’kerchiefed in fleecy robe of light; Not eastern bride displays more lovely state, Or Peri hath a lovelier, softer gait; I’ve wooed her many a time with love-strained eye, When she the heav’ns hath trod, with look elate, A flood of light outpouring from the sky, Or bowed her radiant brow ’neath cloudy canopy. CXCVI. “Our system vast stupendous to descry, Yon golden sun and planets wheeling round Is but a speck lost in immensity, So infinite, amazing, and profound; Thought, reason, staggers with a look astound, Heights to explore and depths unknown to delve; As the least grain, where ocean’s sands abound, So doth our planetary world revolve As small, compared with space, nor missed though it dissolve. CXCVII. “How like an angel sings this moving globe, Shining resplendent thro’ her orbit’s flight, Majestic moonlike doth her form enrobe, But larger seen amid the vault of night Than our fair satellite, climbing heav’n’s height, Yet to th’ universe but a twinkling star, As Hesperus, or Lucifer as bright, From utmost Ferro seen, or Borneo far, So ’mid the firmament earth wends her crystal car. CXCVIII. “How infinite the thought, surpassing great, That this huge globe, with all its pomp and pride, Mountains sublime, and nature’s awful state; Its sea of wonders, glorious in its tide, That rolls remotest shores its billows wide; Its temples, glorious to beholder’s eye; Triumphs and gorgeous pageantry, beside: Though all dissolve and into chaos fly, Creation still revolves, nor lays her glories by. CXCIX. “Gaze as you will, and multiply your pow’rs, ’Tis but a little span ye scan at most, A moment’s ken, compared with minutes, hours, Or countless years, to tell yon shining host: Height above height, a world’s unbounded coast, And other heav’ns and star-bespangled sky; Could we the boundless search exploring boast, Whose light more swift than thought doth speed and fly, Nor yet our globe hath reached, travelling immensity. CC.