From the direct line of a falling stone
(As science shows, and art hath verified),
So did I seem, by some reflected light
Before me there, to be so struck that fain
I would have suddenly withdrawn my sight.
“What is it, gentle Father, that in vain
I shield my visage from, and still towards us
Seems as in motion?” He made this reply:
“Marvel not if, as yet, the splendor thus
Of heaven’s bright household overpowers thine eye.