To the Comet of 1843

Thy purpose, heavenly stranger, who may tell But Him, who linked thee to the starry whole? Wherefore, in this our darkness, be it ours To must upon thee in thy high career, As of some wandering symphony from amidst Those highest stellar harmonies that track Through infinite space and the great rounds of time The mighty marches of creation. Behold, how high thou travellest in heaven! Myriads of wondering human spirits here, Duly each night with upturned looks seek out The mystery of thy advent. In thy last Bright visitation, even thus thou saw’st The young, the lovely, and the wise of earth— A buried generation—crowding out, With looks upturned, to see thee passing forth Beyond the signs of time—and then to know, In all the awful vastness of the heaven, Thy place no more! And when the flaming steps Of thy unspeakable speed, which of itself Blows back the long strands of thy burning hair Through half the arch of night, shall lead thee forth Into the dim of the inane, beyond Our utmost vision; all the eloquent eyes Now opened wide with welcome and with wonder— Eyes tender as the turtle’s, or that speak The fervent soul and the majestic mind; All these, alas!—all these, ere thou once more Shalt drive thus fulgently around the sun Thy chariot of fire, fast closed in dust And mortal darkness, shall have given for aye Their lustre to the grave. But human eyes As many and beautiful—yea, more sublime And radiant in their passion, from a more Enlarged communion with the spirit of truth,— Shall welcome thee instead, mysterious stranger, When thou return’st anew. And thus to think Consoles us, even while we watch thee pass Out of our times for ever; yea, although Some selfish entertainment of a truth At all times mournful, whisper us the while: So shall it be indeed, for God abides, And nature, born of His eternal power, Must share its dateless energy as well. Yea, all that flows from the Eternal must, If from divine necessity alone, Work with its cause for ever—still, alas! Though thence derived, how fugitive and swift, How vague and shadow-like, this life of Man!