Watchers of the Sky by Alfred Noyes
page 43 of 156 (27%)
page 43 of 156 (27%)
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To southward on another hill, he made
A great house for his larger instruments, And called it Stiernborg, mountain of the stars. And, on his towers and turrets, Tycho set Statues with golden verses in the praise Of famous men, the bearers of the torch, From Ptolemy to the new Copernicus. Then, in that storm-proof mountain of the stars, He set in all their splendour of new-made brass His armouries for the assault of heaven,-- Circles in azimuth, armillary spheres, Revolving zodiacs with great brazen rings; Quadrants of solid brass, ten cubits broad, Brass parallactic rules, made to revolve In azimuth; clocks with wheels; an astrolabe; And that large globe strengthened by oaken beams He made at Augsburg. All his gold he spent; But Denmark had a prince in those great days; And, in his brain, the dreams of Tycho Brahe Kindled a thirst for glory. So he made Tycho the Lord of sundry lands and rents, And Keeper of the Chapel where the kings Of Oldenburg were buried; for he said "To whom could all these kings entrust their bones More fitly than to him who read the stars, And though a mortal, knew immortal laws; And paced, at night, the silent halls of heaven." |
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