Ab astris

I saw the stars swept through ethereal space,
Stars, suns, and systems in infinity,---
Our earth an atom in the shoreless sea,
Where each had its appointed path and place:
And I was lost in my own nothingness.
But then I said, Dost thou not know that He
Who guides these orbs through trackless space guides thee?

No longer groveling thus, thyself abase,
For in this vast, harmonious, perfect whole,
In infinite progression moving on,
Thou hast thy place, immortal human soul,
Thy place and part not less than star and sun;
Then with this grand procession fall in line,
This rhythmic march led on by power divine.

poem by Anne Lynch Botta from Poems (1848)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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