The Virginia Gazette

POET'S CORNER.

THE SKY PIECE.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
The book of Psalms,

My thoughts an awful subject roll! the sky,
The great expanse, the wide extent of space,
And all the shining worlds that flame on high!
Great theme! befitting first of human pens,
Or some tall angel's strong descriptive voice!
Where shall the feeble bard begin, lost in
The boundless sweep! I rapt me to the third heaven
Sent of Divinity! great residence
Of the eternal, infinite, I AM!
As from a proper central point of view,
There let me stretch my extended ken o'er all
The wide domains of space, and, wandering, count
The systems that compose this mighty frame,
This complex universe, great work divine!
Th'almighty labour of Jehovah God!
See, Sirius' pointed rays first strike my sight!
Hail, glorious Sun! hail Sirius' system! hail!
What planetary orbs play round that fire!
And what intelligences find their seat
Within thy spacious system's ample round,
And bless the influence of thy balmy reign!
Lo Aldebaran shines in native light!
To what fair virtues ministers that Sun!
And what the orbs that form the planetary dance!
Why should I more? Amid so vast a range,
To mark, Rigel, Procyon, why attempt?
Or all the starry orbs, Hipparchus, Brahe,
Or our own native Flamsteed, greater name,
Have sung aloft in their long starry rolls,
And consecrated to the voice of fame.
Nor yet enough to view and wander o'er
The various systems peopled space presents,
And count each shining world! O let me learn
Their genius, language, laws, and government,
Religion, manners, condition, arts;
When first they rose to being, and what great
Events have hung upon the wheels of each
Revolving orb; whether or similar
Events with earth's have mark'd th' Almighty hand,
And stamp'd the sovereign in his awful sway?
What were the views of Ammon's boastful son?
Of Caesar? What, alas! the paltry aims,
Engross'd their puny souls? - See where they ride
And toil, and sweat, exulting o'er an ant
Or mole hill! This tiny earth's too little
For an immortal mind! Aloft I rise,
Enwrapp'd in suns, and mingle with the stars
Of widest universe! But where, O where
Shall I begin the boundless inquiry?
What plan to proceed on? What memoirs
In the unmanageable enterprise?
Lost and confounded mid the various blaze
Of interfering, bright, refulgent suns,
I turn my views to one, and singly mark
A lowly object, far remote, and dim,
To eyes like mine conform: Say - what yon fire
That twinkles from the utmost bounds of space
Fag end of heaven! the last of all God's works,
(The recent produce of creative power!)
And hardly notic'd from this distant site?
By Roman name call'd Sol, a system's head,
Solar from thence denominate, made up
Of planets, primary, and second call'd;
Among the former pale-ey'd Saturn rolls,
With bulky Jupiter and fiery Mars,
Slow Tellus, Venus, and Mercurius, add;
While twice five moons, which held reflected ray
Upon their principals, make up the rest.
To thee comets adduce, a problem hard!
Whose long-paced periods, and elliptic orbs,
Baffle the universe's watch, and mock
The steady tendance of each high-rais'd tower,
Or deep-sunk cavity. What! have I lost
The numerous shining objects which e'er while
Engross'd my view? Sunk and depress'd to own
To my own system, and this dirty earth?
Alas! abash'd, I own my pride, and shame!
And weep not (with the storied dames of Greece,
Or Rome) because no greater range to tread,
But that I find myself so impotent,
Unable to succeed, in this superb
Atchievement. Yes! this earth, this tiny earth;
Stands own'd my province! and, no wonder, since
From earth I sprung, to earth belong, and shall,
E'erwhile, to earth, my native soil, return.
Here, let me find employ, and studious trace,
The history of mankind, my kindred race,
Nor daringly attempt high heavens to scan,
"The proper study of mankind is Man."