Poems (Browning)/Song of Light
Song of Light
Space, the mind of man outreaching, Stretching to infinity;Can aught bring thee, all dividing Stubborn distance, to thy knee?
I can never find a limit On from sun to sun I race,Touching lightly on the planet Islands of the sea of space.
In my youth I dreamed a border Must be built about it all,And I thought to it to wander, And peer o'er some outer wall.
But I little knew existence, Little guessed the starry slopes,And deception of that distance To the summit of my hopes.
In about the worlds I scatter Rays with sunshine's blessings rife,And I tinge the clouds I shatter With the golden glow of life.
Then I flash out into boundless Space—until my rays disperse—Until I am tired of endless Grasping at the universe.
Out beyond the fartherest heavens Lie there other heavens still,Bounded still by other heavens, Bounded still by heavens still.
Countless years my rays have wandered Threading constellations bright,Far beyond yon star bespattered Vaulted canopy of night.
I can never find a limit On from sun to sun I race,Touching lightly on the planet Islands of the sea of space.—Charles Browning.
Finis