Original Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3419, 6 December 1879, Page 1

Original Poetry.

BEDUOTIO AD ABSUBDUM.

Eternity! Eternal! Infinite! What wondrona words! Words wbich we toss about Indifferently amongst our daily speech. As though full well we comprehend'their weight; And so we do, until wo go for proof, ;! For proof of which sco here—Eternity Means time both endless and beginningbss; Eternal means duration through that Time; And Infinite means boundless in extent. But let us get to grasp them one by one, To see more clearly what they really mean; Let na start forth in thought, exploring each, And lef s take all the wisdom of the wise, And all the perseverance of success, To aid us, and our summing up will be, At our returning, "We dismiss the case." Eternity! What art thon ? Lei me-try To hunt thee down—condense thee in my mind. Back through the past a million million years I sweep, and find that them art beyond, I square that mm, but SaA .thee as before. Next into units I those millions form, And name the sum I,had:before, but find. Thou art beyond, and further back I go." .And;, square, and- maltipjy, aid baiH| tto ..'■ ■ ":.'■ •■■; •:-'/• {:.'• f kzinthm MM*, llKm art waMtatebK' •, '' TheW'MhrslwMlhm time, when tiie was And w^^ikiM^Uttrß time be, when it ' *"&£. '}■ ' '. .-•■•' < :")- , ■ Heat let me look upon the Universe, .To find its age, sad ftthom its extent; Let me go backto what we call Creation; What wasit before? Nothing? Whence then came This matter? Ont of .nought ? That; could not be; • -." •, Or were our present system wrong;' w» teach That aught from nought, yo*os»*fc4 Ah! then, the stones — Tho atoms of the worlds, have ever been, Shall ever be. They shift, they change their place, They mote, they spin, they whirl eternally; But through it all, they ne'er grow more or 'I.GSS* # We well may grind, and burn, and scatter, but. Can never stamp them into Nothingness. They've even lived, and moved, as well as had Their being, from eternity, or else' They neither had their life nor being now. There could not be a time, whetL Stagnancy Could move itself, or death begin to.livo. There never was a time, when Nothing was, For Nothing into something can't resolve. And what 13 thy extent ?, O, Universe t ' Thy wondrous length, .and breadth,, and

height, and depth? My measure be the Compasses of Thought, The circle I describe, within it pave All that tho mind of man could ever dream; But yet I have not all:, there's more without! . '' And must I then extend the radius ? -* .'Twere vain, although I could, outside; the first, , ..-.■.-'. As many myriad circles Buch, describe, As there are atoms in it, and the whole Crash into Nothing,: they'd no jnaoTO be missed, . . . To eye that could taTto in tho Universe Even at a glance, than would a tiny drop, To mine, ba missed fism off the ocean's broast! O! Wondrous Univerte! - We cannot circumscribe iv thought' thy vastness, And yet we would thy power. And n what are we, Who are thus bold—thus wise ? O! let us

turn •. .. ' Our eyes upon onr insignificance, And blush for evermore to say, or think, Thon art, or wert, or couldst not, this, or ■ that! With thee—thou all, thou mighty Architect— The worker; and with thy Infinitude, With an eternal time to do it in, All that has been, has been thy work alone, •And all that ever may, or can' bo, shall! } . Jas. Simpson-, Thames.