Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/344

 WILLIAM HABINGTON

For the bright firmament

Shoots forth no flame So silent, but is eloquent

In speaking the Creator's name.

No unregarded star

Contracts its light Into so small a character,

Removed far from our human sight,

But if we steadfast look We shall discern In it, as in some holy book,

How man may heavenly knowledge learn.

It tells the conqueror

That far-stretch'd power, Which his proud dangers traffic for, Is but the triumph of an hour

That from the farthest North,

Some nation may, Yet undiscover'd, issue forth,

And o'er his new-got conquest sway:

Some nation yet shut in With hills of ice May be let out to scourge his sin, Till they shall equal him in vice.

And then they likewise shall

Their ruin have,

For as yourselves your empires fall, And every kingdom hath a grave.

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