Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES ON THE COMET, by ISABELLA LICKBARROW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES ON THE COMET, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Trav'ller of th' etherial round
Last Line: With such rapid speed away.
Subject(s): Astronomy & Astronomers; Comets; Universe


Trav'ller of th' etherial round,
Hast'ning o'er yon starry plain,
Tell us whither art thou bound,
What far distant goal to gain?

Say by what resistless force
Thus thy glowing orb is driven,
Forwards on its rapid course,
Through the azure fields of heav'n.

What is thy unerring guide,
Marking out thy devious way,
Through the trackless ether wide,
That thou wand'rest not astray?

Borne upon th' elastic air,
Not the sweeping whirlwind's speed,
Not the lightning's sudden glare,
The swiftness of thy flight exceed.

Say, (for in thy ceaseless race,
Ever since the world began,
Thou hast travers'd wilds of space,
Far beyond the view of man,)

In what realm, to us unknown,
Wond'rous trav'ller hast thou been,
Passing many a torrid zone,
Many a chilling region keen?

Hast thou roll'd thy lucid train
O'er yon beauteous tract of light,
Yon thickly studded, shining plain,
With countless constellations bright.

Tell us if thy circuit runs
Where other planets brighter blaze,
Where more powerful burning suns
Shed around intenser rays.

Hast thou rush'd through dreary realms,
Lost in dim obscurity,
Where no faint star's glimmering beams
Tremble o'er the cheerless sky?

Trav'ller, wheresoever bound,
Or new regions to explore,
Or to trace a former round,
Trod a thousand years before;

Yet awhile within our sphere,
Beauteous stranger, deign to stay,
Haste not on thy vast career,
With such rapid speed away.





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