THE ETERNAL SILENCE
Around this rolling sphere of Man
There lies a vast Unknown,
Beyond the space that he can scan
With tracts of starlight sown.
Beneath the shadow of th' Unknown
From age to age he stands,
And to the Void in wavering hope
He stretches praying hands.
But in the Void no signs appear,
It stands unbroken still,
And from the void no word of cheer,
But silence deep and chill.
And when the upstart race of men
Has ceased from all this earth,
When past is their brave strife with Fate,
When past are Death and Birth;
When lifeless, sightless, blank and cold
The home of man's poor breath;
Still will this ball through space be rolled,
In Silence deep as death.
PART II