By sweet attraction, no less strongly drawn;

Awed, and yet raptured; raptured, yet serene; 1842

Past thought illustrious, but with borrow’d beams;

In still approaching circles, still remote,

Revolving round the sun’s eternal Sire?

Or sent, in lines direct, on embassies

To nations—in what latitude?—Beyond

Terrestrial thought’s horizon!—And on what

High errands sent?—Here human effort ends;

And leaves me still a stranger to His throne. 1850