Poems (Linn)/Cicero's Dream
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CICERO'S DREAM.[1]
HIGH up among the stars great Cicero stood.
Harmony perfect fell upon his ears,
The soft and mellow music of the spheres
Blent with the praises of the great and good.
Dead Africanus, Paulus' mighty sire,
Taught him the laws that light the star-strown skies;
Showed him the wonders that from human eyes
Forever hidden are: but still desire
Fixed on one tiny spot his eager gaze
Where, least among the many balls of light,
The earth hung, glowing beautiful and bright,
A fiery point in the unending maze.
Ah! though the universe below him moves
His thoughts are but of earth, for there his loves.
———
Harmony perfect fell upon his ears,
The soft and mellow music of the spheres
Blent with the praises of the great and good.
Dead Africanus, Paulus' mighty sire,
Taught him the laws that light the star-strown skies;
Showed him the wonders that from human eyes
Forever hidden are: but still desire
Fixed on one tiny spot his eager gaze
Where, least among the many balls of light,
The earth hung, glowing beautiful and bright,
A fiery point in the unending maze.
Ah! though the universe below him moves
His thoughts are but of earth, for there his loves.
———
- ↑ Longfellow's Dante (Notes) page 229.