SONG OF THE COMET-DWELLERS

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 85

SONG OF THE COMET-DWELLERS

There fell a aung upon t.he air, From out the stars it fell, —

A song with all things strangely fair ; Of night according well.

Round in .space, and round in space Spins the comet ball. Our duties grant a little grace, Comet-dwellers all. Then come along, we'll frame a song In .the oomwi-d welters hall.

Our home it is a burring zone, Our air is mystery. So deep it is, so deep it is, That rone can pierce but we— Unfathomed sea of mystery! Our breath is mystery.

Of burning bronze our bodies are, And streams of fire our hair; Our «ye 3 the brightest lights by far In all the light-filled air. Our food is fiery meteors, Our hearts know nought of care.

The only ro.ce that conquer space The comet-dwellers be: Our boundaries infinity, Ow pathways niillioned he, Boundless and bridleless, And our breath is mystery.

And round in space and throughout space We travel, travel far. We know the home of every sun, The life of every star. Omnipotence directeth whence, His messengers we are.

To visit every balanced ball In all unmeasured space, To see that not the least shall fall From its appointed place, And all the years of all the spheub Their good or ill to trace.

And every world which hath, unfurled The flag of folly free Would fain be dight in robes of night) That none her shame might see. But nigher! nigher! truth on fire Beveals unerringly.

Our flame-lit eyes pierce histories Through centuries of grime, Viewing the birth of a nation's worth While chronicling its prime. A single year, a hundred years, Are one in a comet's time.

Though contac; swift with airy drift From- every sphere around Doth grind our fiery mansion down, It. nought doth us confound: TJnconquerble magnitude ' Always shall abcv.r.d.

l-'or kings are we of mortality: Never Death comes nigh Till all our bieath of mystery Is swept from oft the sky. When mortals see eternity The comet-dwellers die. -P. B.