When I survey the bright
Celestial sphere,
So rich with jewels hung, that night
Doth like an Ethiop bride appear,
My soul her wings doth spread
And heavenward flies,
Th' Almighty's mysteries to read
In the large volumes of the skies.
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,
Remov'd 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 undiscovered, 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.
Thus those celestial fires,
Though seeming mute,
The fallacy of our desires
And all the pride of life confute.
For they have watch'd since first
The world had birth;
And found sin in itself accurst,
And nothing permanent on earth.
