22

SEVENTH SPIRIY. The star which rules thy destiny, Was ruled, ere earth began, by me: It was a world as fresh and fair As e'er revolved round sun in air; Its course was free and regular, Space bosom'd not a lovelier star. The hour arrived— and it became A wandering mass of shapeless flame, A pathless comet, and a curse, The menace of the universe; Still rolling on with innate force, Without a sphere, without a course, A bright deformity on high, The monster of the upper sky! And thou! beneath its influence born— Thou worm! whom I obey and scorn— Forced by a power(which is not thine, And lent thee but to make thee mine)

For this brief moment to descend,