Where rattling winds disturb the mighty ocean,
And the proud waves roll with eternal motion?
Vain is the inquiry—all is darkness, doubt:
This earth is one vast mystery to man.
First find the secrets of this planet out,
Then other planets, other systems scan!
Nature is veiled from thee, presuming clod!
And what canst thou conceive of Nature’s God?
—From Sir John Bowring’s Specimens of the Russian Poets.