They saw the moving finger write
Its _Mene, Mene_, on their sun.
A mightier shadow cloaks their light,
And clay is clay in Babylon.

A shadow moved towards him from the door.
Copernicus, with a cry, upraised his head.
"The book, I cannot see it, let me feel
The lettering on the cover.
It is here!
Put out the lamp, now. Draw those curtains back,
And let me die with starlight on my face.
An angel's hand in mine . . . yes; I can say
My _nunc dimittis_ now . . . light, and more light
In that pure realm whose darkness is our peace."




II

TYCHO BRAKE


I


They thought him a magician, Tycho Brahe,
Who lived on that strange island in the Sound,
Nine miles from Elsinore.