Like the Doctor's globe, or a huge balloon,

Forty times larger, perhaps, than the Moon,

All covered with circles, and looming in space:

There were groups upon it, and every face

Was turned one way; and very long-jointed

Telescopes at the sky were pointed;—

And there, with a terrible rushing and humming

And hissing of breath, was a Comet a-coming!

So long and so queer, and as it came nearer

It grew every moment longer and queerer!