Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/377

 ODK TO JJO/'E 367

��Or, armed with microscope, to note Those tiny living swarms that float Within the compass of a tear, Or count the nations that appear Beneath the surface of that main Whose tides flow in a drop of rain, Living whole ages in an hour, Hung from the petals of a flower, Where the light wings of summer-shower Have cast their globe to shine, and die When the first sunbeam bursts the sky.

��Or, with that greater glass when I survey

Those glittering orbs that swim through night and day

In endless space, to which our distant sphere

Seems scarcely larger than a trickling tear,

Alas, the world seems grown so vast,

And man so mean, that now at last

Thou seemest fled to some far shore —

I must gaze after thee no more.

Yet midst my night I feel thy wavy wing,

And seem to hear thy sweet voice whispering :

" Even in that little drop am I,

Cheering the tiniest atomy."

Yes, in all life I feel thou a^-t,

Beating throughout all Nature's heart !

In sun, and moon, and twinkling star.

And every planet, near or far.

Even in this drop of vinegar

That teems with life, I scarce can doubt

The pygmies there have found thee out.

Boasting like men, with vain and solemn airs.

That the whole boundless universe is theirs —

Each deeming his own world God's only sphere.

Each with some faith, perhaps, which he holds dear,

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