Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE SPECTROSCOPE, by W. F. HOYT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE SPECTROSCOPE, by                    
First Line: One day untiring science, treading slow
Last Line: But thou art greatest of these spirits three.
Subject(s): Science; Scientists


One day untiring Science, treading slow
The narrow shores of Truth's unfathomed sea,
A crystal found and gave it unto man,
His pupil. He in sun admiring it,
Was glad, for lo! the light in fragments fell,
Full-matching, hue by hue, the arch which God
Hath hung in storm-tossed skies, as earnest sure
Of changeless purpose not to whelm the world
Again with floods, as in the days of eld.
Then Thou didst come, as did the Afrit huge
In Arab tale, the mightiest spirit of great
Accomplishment vouchsafed to man his will
To do. Thou shewest why both starry sky
And flowery field their thousand-tinted robes
Display, and why the gem its beauty wears.
The inmost secrets of the elements,
Through thee, are traced in earth and distant star;
The mystic dance of ions stands revealed;
And e'en th' amazing flight of unleashed sun,
And universe athwart th' Eternities,
The meteor's flash and comet's dash are timed
By thee. Thou leadest man to mangered star,
Close-wrapped in nebulous swaddling clothes, and new-
Born element, just travailed by radio force.
Thou knowest the hidden paths of binary stars,
The ceaseless whirl of unseen worlds, the forge
Where heavenly spheres are wrought, and pigmy man
Through thee may see and grasp the infinities.
There's naught too high, and naught too low; the near
And far are alike to thee. Though chained to earth
In prisoned flesh, the mind of man may roam
With thee through heights of heaven, and nether depths.
Jehovah doth reveal, through thee, His deeds
And plans. And now abideth Microscope
And Telescope, and thou O Spectroscope—
These three great Servitors of thought and man—
But thou art greatest of these Spirits three.





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