ORIGINAL POETRY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 250, 25 August 1874, Page 6

ORIGINAL POETRY.

THE COMET. AK ODE.

Away! away I through the spangled sky, In glorious triumph how swift I fly I Before my passage the stars recede, Nothing can slacken my glorious speed: from mom till.eve, mid from eve till morn, Triumphant from polo to pole I’m borne. And I shake my hair ' ■ In the midnight air, And the heavens are filled with the lurid glare I How I laugh at the planets creeping along, Whilst I rush free through the starry throng! Fleet as the wings of the rapid wind I Dragging my fiery tail behind— I seem like a giant of wrath in the sky, Spreading destruction around as I fly 1 And away I ride In power and pride Through the blue vault of ether far and wide. But as I haste by in my headlong flight, And light up a flame in the shades of night, Men stare up aloft in dread amaze At my long bright hair and its glowing blaze ; Terror reigns chill in thfjir craven breast, And they start up aghast from their broken rest. And the infant screams In its midnight dreams When my flaming track in the red sky gleams. When I approach Man trembling sees Grim Death, and War, and pale Disease, Famine, with jaws distended wide, All gathered, threatening, at my side; Destruction, figured in my streaming fire, Hurling his lighted brand, and wreaking ven» geance dire! Then Kings, arrayed in sumptuous gold, Glitt’ring ’mid gems of price untold, Wax pale with sudden fear; For, ’mid their revels, in the sky They see the fatal comet fly, And feel their end draw near. Fain would they strive my course to stay. And all my fancied wrath appease, In vain they stoop and cringe and pray, And bend to earth their suppliant knees ; The comet, monarch of the skies, Still on his boundless journey hies ; Nor deigns man’s trembling voice to heed, But ever hastens on with light and joyous speed. Away! far away ! through the broad, open 6ky, Still faster I speed, for the daylight is nigh ; Onward 1 ride on the wings of the gale. And behind me far stretches the red-glowing trail. Whilst beneath me the earth* lies buried in sleep, In the vast airy regions my revels I keep ; And I lord it in might over planet and star, For from both goals of heaven my sway spreadeth far. And I proudly delight in the fear I inspire In mortals’ dull hearts, when I shew my dread fire; And I laugh in my glee at their needless alarm. As I speed through the heavens, nor e’er dream of barm.

And I heed not their prayer, But I shake my bright hair, For I most love to revel when weak men despair I