Thou blazing banner of the mighty God!

From Creation's center to its farthest pole,

Speed on and on in thy unknown track;

But the hand that send thee can draw thee back,

And teach thee the way when thy footsteps stray,

As He doth the wanderer.

Like a silent thought from Creation wrought,

Thou speakest a language weird and strange

Of the breadth of space and the speed of change,

And the wondrous dream that the ages taught;