by Sir Humphry Davy.
Of long-forgotten things arise again.
The light of suns, the breath of angry storms,
The everlasting motions of the main,-
These are but engines of the Eternal will,
The One Intelligence, whose potent sway
Has ever acted, and is acting still,
Whilst stars, and,worlds, and systems all obey;
Without Whose power, the whole world of mortal things
Were dull, inert, an unharmonious band,
Silent as are the harps's untuned strings
Without the touches of the poet's hand.
A sacred spark, created by His breath,
The immortal mind of man His images bears;
A spirit living 'midst the forms of death,
Oppressed, but not subdued, by mortal cares;
A germ, preparing in the winter's frost
To rise, and bud, and blossom in the spring;
An unfledged eagle by the tempest tossed,
Unconscious of his future strength of wing;
The child of trial, to morality
And all its changeful influences given,
On the green earth decreed to move and die.
And yet, by such a fate, prepared for heaven!
