Poems (Hoffman)/Earth and Sky
EARTH AND SKY
We claim the earth as ours to sell and buy None claim the sky.To the broad, bright dominion of the Sun Titles have none.Mile after mile it stretches on afar From star to star,Span after span extend its arches, proud, From cloud to cloud,Rulers are born or chosen for the earth Throughout its girth,The sky's clear distance beautiful and broad Is ruled by God;No petty despot will, one planet hath Swerved from its pathOr caused the loyal clouds to tribute pay By night or day.We change the earth's green surface with our hands Lay waste its lands,Hew down its forests or with noise and shock Tear up its solid rock;No feeble blundering hand can touch to mar Sun, cloud or star.Vast domes and monuments we rear and plan, Great rivers span,But not one dome 'midst those above we lift Nor bridge one riftIn all the white cloud-continents that lie Strewn o'er the sky.We launch strong ships to sail the ocean o'er From shore to shore; We cannot send one fairy yacht to ply The blue waves of the sky.We call the spot of earth our hands have sown By right our own,But never title to the fields above Can mortal prove;We watch it stretched above, before, behind O'er all mankind;We claim a little while these earthly clods, The sky is God's.Ah! could we take upon some summer night Our joyful flightUp to the blue, blue heights that look so fair And pausing thereLook down to earth through far immensity What would we see?One tiny star that none may sell or buy In God's great sky.