BENJAMIN PEIRCE

FOR him the Architect of all

Unroofed our planet's starlit hall;

Through voids unknown to worlds unseen

His clearer vision rose serene.

With us on earth he walked by day,

His midnight path how far away!

We knew him not so well who knew

The patient eyes his soul looked through;

For who his untrod realm could share

Of us that breathe this mortal air,

Or camp in that celestial tent

Whose fringes gild our firmament?

How vast the workroom where he brought

The viewless implements of thought!

The wit how subtle, how profound,

That Nature's tangled webs unwound;

That through the clouded matrix saw

The crystal planes of shaping law,

Through these the sovereign skill that planned,—

The Father's care, the Master's hand!

To him the wandering stars revealed

The secrets in their cradle sealed

The far-off, frozen sphere that swings

Through ether, zoned with lucid rings;

The orb that rolls in dim eclipse

Wide wheeling round its long ellipse,—

His name Urania writes with these

And stamps it on her Pleiades.

We knew him not? Ah, well we knew

The manly soul, so brave, so true,

The cheerful heart that conquered age,

The childlike silver-bearded sage.

No more his tireless thought explores

The azure sea with golden shores;

Rest, wearied frame I the stars shall keep

A loving watch where thou shalt sleep.

Farewell! the spirit needs must rise,

So long a tenant of the skies,—

Rise to that home all worlds above

Whose sun is God, whose light is love.