SHY soul and stalwart, man of patient will Through years one hair's-breadth on our Dark to gain, Who, from the stars he studied not in vain, Had learned their secret to be strong and still, Careless of fames that earth's tin trumpets fill; Born under Leo, broad of build and brain, While others slept, he watched in that hushed fane Of Science, only witness of his skill: Sudden as falls a shooting-star he fell, But inextinguishable his luminous trace In mind and heart of all that knew him well. Happy man's doom! To him the Fates were known Of orbs dim hovering on the skirts of space, Unprescient, through God's mercy, of his own! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GREENNESS by ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE EVEN SO by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 2 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE EARLY PRIMROSE by HENRY KIRKE WHITE THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 11. ABRAHAM DAVENPORT by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LOST AT SEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO AN INDEPENDENT PREACHER by MATTHEW ARNOLD |