ORION.
Canto the Third.
O'er plastic nature any change may come,
Save that which seeks to crush the primal germ;
And outward circumstance may breed within,
A second nature which o'ercomes the first,
But ne'er destroys, though dormant or subdued.
More toil for him whose wandering fancies teem
With too much life, and that vitality
Which eats into itself; more toil of brain
And limb, sole panacea for the change
From tyrant senses to pure intellect.
Wherefore, his work redoubled, Artemis
Directs Orion's course; not as before
With grave and all-subduing tenderness,
Save that which seeks to crush the primal germ;
And outward circumstance may breed within,
A second nature which o'ercomes the first,
But ne'er destroys, though dormant or subdued.
More toil for him whose wandering fancies teem
With too much life, and that vitality
Which eats into itself; more toil of brain
And limb, sole panacea for the change
From tyrant senses to pure intellect.
Wherefore, his work redoubled, Artemis
Directs Orion's course; not as before
With grave and all-subduing tenderness,
