Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

George Francis Savage-Armstrong b. 1845

One in the Infinite

ROLL on, and with thy rolling crust

That round thy poles thou twirlest,

Roll with thee, Earth, this grain of dust,

As through the Vast thou whirlest;

On, on through zones of dark and light

Still waft me, blind and reeling,

Around the sun, and with his flight

In wilder orbits wheeling.

Speed on through deeps without a shore,

This Atom with thee bearing,

Thyself a grain of dust—no more—

’Mid fume of systems flaring.

Ah, what am I to thirst for power,

Or pore on Nature’s pages,—

Whirl’d onward, living for an hour,

And dead through endless ages?