For consider the primæval woods that bristle over broad Australia,
And count their autumn leaves, millions multiplied by millions;
Thence look up to a moonless sky from a sleeping isle of the Ægæan,
And add to these leaves yon starry host, sparkling on the midnight numberless;
Thence traverse an Arabia, some continent of eddying sand,
Gather each grain, let none escape, add them to the leaves and to the stars;
Afterward gaze upon the sea, the thousand leagues of an Atlantic,
Take drop by drop, and add their sum, to the grains, and leaves, and stars;
The drops of ocean, the desert sands, the leaves, and stars innumerable,
All might reckon for an instant, a transient flash of Time,