Poetry.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 632, 27 November 1858, Page 3

Poetry.

ADDEESS TO THE COMET.--What art thou, meteor of the niyht? From whence dost thou derive thy light ? Tell now thje secret of thy flight— From wliither dost thou come? When were thy pinions first unfurled ? Why Wfirt thou-fromthy orbit hurled— Some fragment of a.rained world— For ever doomed to roam ? . What art thoti—thing of import dire— A planet lost—a blazing pyre? . Art thon xome mighty mass of fire Struck from a burning sun ? Art thon the centre of a sphere, Awakening with each roll of the year The spring-time green and autumn »ere, As thou thy course dour run ? Of an abiding place r-creft— ' An thou Creation's remnant. leftSome fragment o.f the web or -weft Which Nature threw away ? In blazing Sol what he appears ? What is it guides the rolling years? Whence came the system of the spheres. In all its grand array? Are placet* spirits of the air ? . Are they, bright forms of ether rare ? Or is there weight and substance thera And land, and sea, and sky? Are they the mountains of the junt— Oftho.se who've spurned this earthly dost— As every living mortal muat Ere he ascends on high ? Are stars—those tiny twinkling things— The angels from whose flashing wings The vivid lightning blinding springs From zenith to the pole ?, Are they the spirits who keep guard ■■; • Around the throne—-whose watch and ward Time may not hasten or rotard In its unceasing roll ? Art thou a sign of dire portent, j Upon some fearful errand sent, ! That in the evening firmanent . ■• Dost greet our /wonderiug gaze ? What art thou, weary wanderer, say—• I Some plunet which has lost its way, • | Come back to seek the son rce of day, [ And fill us,with amaze? Wandering stranger of the West, Dost thou seek some place of rest ? Dost thou bring some high behest, Unto this world below ? When didst thou visit'us before ? Art thou that blazing star of yore, Which told of " garments rolled in gore," Three hundred years ago ? Art thou the same?—didst thoo appear At that dark time of dread and fear—rr Malignant star of the third year Of .Mary Tudor's reigu? Didst see the fires of Smithfield blaze ? Didst thou portend those fearful days ? Didst witness with thy blighting rays, . . .Those scenes of death and pain? Didst see the martyrs at the stake. ? Didst >cc the timid fear and quake ? Didst see the boldest hearted shake, When saints were doomed to death? , Didst thou not iremble in thy course ? Did Light fly back upon its source? " Did Darkness muster all its forc3 —fc*i~ When they gave up their breath ? Art tbon that meteor come again— The source whence Heaven's consuming rain O'erwhelmed tbeCities of the Plain, As told in sacred story? Dost bring back to the orb of day * What bold Prometheus-bore away ?—• Dost thou give to each solar, ray The fueLf-Or, its glory ? /What fearfdl thing* canst thou unfold— . What sufferings in dark days of old— What deeds to make one's blood run cold— What tales of human woe !. Wondrous "wanderer of the sky ! Seldom seen by mortal eye— What doth thy advent now- imply To dwellers here below ? Dost come again to bode us ill ? | East not of misery seen-thy fill? Art come to work thy wicked will' * On this abode of men ? Thon " bearded vision " of the sky, Dost bring glad tidings from od high? Or art thou tent, a treacherous spy, ■ From dark -tipollyon'n den? Dost thon forbode some plague or dearth ? Or dost thou usher in the birth Of king or conqueror on the carth — Sotce Titan of his race ? Doth some chaotic, embryo globe Lie hid beneath thy glowing robe ? ; Or art thou merely Nature's probe To sound the depths of s^ace? Thou truant —wanderer from afar— Dost co:ne to light the torch of war, And all the hopes of man to mar - ■ •■ For many a. coming year ? Hast thou, by proud ambition driven, For high dominion fiercely striven ? Art thou some on;cast con of Heaven ' Hurled from thy wonted sphere? — Sydney Mottling Herald.