 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
122
SHAKSPEARE.
Who shall appraise Potosi's hidden mines,Or measure Oronooko's gushing springs,
Or in a balance weigh the Apennines,
Fathom the deep, or span the polar rings?—
And who can sum thy wealth, exhaustless mind,
Or scale the heights of its imaginings,
Where giant thoughts with beauteous fancies twined,
Stand wondrous, as the heaven-kissing hills?
Thy theme is Man: the universal heart
In sympathy with thee dissolves or thrills,
While the strong spells of nature leagued with art
Bind the world captive in a magic chain:
Thy peer is out of hope; we wait in vain;—
We may not look upon his like again.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |