TO THE COMET, 1811.

WRITTEN ON ITS APPEARANCE.


Be ye not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are
dismayed at them. JER. X. 2.

Comet! who from yon' dusky sky
Dart'st o'er a shrinking world thy fiery eye,
Scattering from thy burning train
Diffusive terror o'er the earth and main;
What high behest dost thou perform
Of Heaven's Almighty Lord? what coming storm
Of war or woe does thy etherial flame
To thoughtless man proclaim?
Dost thou commissioned shine
The silent harbinger of wrath divine?
Or does thy unprophetic fire
Thro' the wide realms of solar day
Mad Heat or purple Pestilence inspire?
Thro' all her lands, Earth trembles at thy ray;
And starts, as she beholds thee sweep
With fiery wing Air's far-illumined deep.

The Eternal gave command, and from afar,
From realms unbless'd with heat or light,