University of Virginia Library

---

404

SAMUEL GILMAN.

HISTORY OF A RAY OF LIGHT.

Ah! ne'er shall I forget th' eventful day
When to this planet first I sped my way:
To many a twinkling throb my heart gave birth,
As near and nearer I approach'd the earth.
What was to be my fate? for ever lost
In some dark bog? or was I to be tost
In wild reflection, round some narrow spot,
Then sink absorb'd, inglorious and forgot?
No, reader, no—far different the career

---

405

Which fate designed me to accomplish here:
Millions of splendid scenes 't was mine to grace,
Though my first act brought ruin to your race.
Trembling, I reach'd the serpent's glistening eye,
Then glanced, and struck the apple, hanging by,
Then, to your mother Eve reflected, flew,
And thus, at one exploit, a world o'erthrew!
Oh scene of wo! the mischief I had wrought,
Those quick successive shocks, that stunn'd my thought,
The poisonous magic from that sire of lies,
The worse contagion in that woman's eyes,
All were too much for one poor ray of light,
New to his task, and meaning only right.
Distrest in heart, at once myself I hurl'd
Far to the outside of this injured world,
Wishing to wear my wretched life away,
'Mid scenes, where solitude and chaos lay.
At length, while wandering o'er these realms of wo,
I heard a small, sweet voice that whisper'd low
In tones of soothing—'t was a brother ray
Sent from the hand that first created day—
“No longer mourn,” the darting angel said,
“The hopes of man are not for ever fled
From his own race a Saviour shall arise,
To lead him back to his forbidden skies;
And hark! when Bethl'em's beauteous star shall shine,
Its first and freshest radiance shall be thine!”

Cheer'd by these words, I long'd to gain once more
This lovely world, and try my fortune o'er.
Just then a globe, new struck from chaos out,
Met me, and turn'd my headlong path about;
Back to the sun with breathless speed I flew,
And thence rush'd down, where bright to Noah's view
The glorious rainbow shone—a lingering stop
I made within a small pellucid drop,
Touch'd its internal surface, and outright
Darted through air to glad the patriarch's sight.
Glancing from thence away, I sported on
Where'er by pleasure or by duty drawn;—
Now tipping some bright drop of pearly dew,
Now plunging into heaven through tracks of blue,
Now aiding to light up the glorious morn,
Or twilight's softer mantle to adorn,
Now darting through the depths of ocean clear,
To paint a pearl—then to the atmosphere
Again reflected, shooting to the skies
Away, away, where thought can never rise;

---

406

Then trav'ling down to tinge some valley flower,
Or point some beauty's eye with mightier power,
Or to some monarch's gem new lustre bring,
Or light with fire some prouder insect's wing,
Or lend to health's red cheek a brighter dye,
Or flash delusive from consumption's eye,
Or sparkle round a vessel's form by night,
Or give the glow-worm its phosphoric light,
Or clothe with terror threatening anger's glance,
Or from beneath the lids of love to dance,
Or place those little silver points on tears,
Or light devotion's eye, while mercy hears;
In short, to aid with my poor transient flings,
All scenes, all passions, all created things.

But not to holy ground was I confined,
In classic haunts my duties were assign'd.
I primed the bolts Olympian Jove would throw,
And Pluto sought me for his fires below:
Over and over gallant Phœbus swore,
I was the finest dart his quiver bore:
Oft was I sent a peeping, anxious ray
From Dian, hastening where Endymion lay:
When Iris shot from heaven, all swift and bright,
Thither I rush'd, companion of her flight:
From Vulcan's anvil I was made to glare,
I lent a horror to the Gorgon's stare,
I too have beam'd upon Achilles' shield,
And dropp'd from Helen's eye when Paris kneel'd;
Faithful Achates, every school-boy knows,
Struck from a flint my whole long year's repose:
Ten wretched days I pass'd in sobs and sighs,
Because I could not dance on Homer's eyes:
I once was decomposed from that pure oil,
Which cheer'd the Athenian sage's midnight toil:
I from the brazen focus led the van,
When Archimedes tried his frightful plan;
'T was I, from Cleopatra's orb that hurl'd
The fatal glance, which lost her slave the world:

---

407

I struck the sweetest notes on Memnon's lyre,
And quiver'd on the phœnix' funeral pyre.

Nor yet have poetry and painting shared
My sole regards—for science I have cared.
When Galileo raised his glass on high,
Me first it brought to his astonish'd eye;
When Newton's prism loosed the solar beams,
I help'd to realize his heaven-taught dreams;
When Herschel his dim namesake first descried,
I was justshooting from that planet's side.
At all eclipses and conjunctions nigh,
Of sun, or satellite, or primary,
Oft have I serv'd the longtitude to fix—
And heavens! in June of eighteen hundred six,
How all New England smiled to see me burst,
Out from behind her darken'd sun the first!
I form'd a spangle on the modest robes
Of Doctor Olbers' new-discover'd globes;
I from the comet's path was downward sent,
When Bowditch seized me for an element:
Once trav'ling from a fourth-rate star to earth,
I gave the hint of abberration birth.
I led th' electric flash to Priestley's sight,
And play'd my sports round Franklin's daring kite;
Absorb'd in copper once I long had lain,
When lo! Galvani gave me life again.
I taught the Swede that after sunny days,
Lilies and marigolds will dart forth rays;
And when polarity made Savans stare
For the first time, be sure that I was there.
When iron first in oxygen was burnt,
When Davy his metallic basis learnt,
When Brewster shaped his toy for peeping eyes,
And Humboldt counted stars in southern skies,

---

408

'T was I that moved, while bursting on their sigh
The flush of wonder, triumph, and delight.