With measuring lines we reach from star to star, On pinion bold we seek creation's rim, The vast horizon mocks us from afar With sphere on sphere beyond our vision dim; On weary wing our thought, from voyage vain, Like that lone dove, with neither leaf nor bud, Returns to find the windowed ark again— A floating refuge on a shoreless flood. O mystery vast which veils the sovereign brow! O vergeless silence, depths by light untrod! Space without centre! Time, eternal now! O star-gemmed vesture! Seamless robe of God! What word doth this vast Universe inthrall! Bounded by nothing, yet embracing all.