On Mount Hamilton

ATOP a bold crag, cloudward piled, alone,
O’erwatching far-flung valleys, dim and blue,
Serried with ridge on ridge to bound the view,
A band of warders scan the vasty zone
Where Night’s innumerable hosts are strown
Wide through the universe, in orbits true,
Hurled from the fire-mist, whence they grandly grew,
To bournes of darkness in the void unknown.

What seekest thou, O watchers of the vast ?
The whirlwind of Orion’s fiery mist,
The trackless comet proudly steering past,
Star-twins that roll in wonder as they list ?
Lo, thou art peering with thy giant eye
On God’s great workshop in the silent sky !