Halley’s Comet

Halley’s Comet

 

The Pilgrim of Eternity

O ancient guest, whose circuit spans the years,
Whose sudden torch has summoned hopes and fears,
Thou comest not by miracle or prayer,
But through the laws that guide the fields of air.

Three generations may have passed away
Before thy splendour greets another day;
Some who beheld thee as their childhood’s light
Lie deep in earth before thy next great flight.

Yet thou returnest, faithful to thy way,
While thrones are dust and kingdoms melt away;
The hands that pointed heavenward are still,
The stars look down, indifferent to our will.

When thou didst blaze above the Norman shore,
Men read in thee what fear and faith implore;
One hailed thee as a warning from the skies,
Another saw his promised empire rise.
Upon old cloth thy fiery image stayed,
While history turned beneath the light it made.

How oft has humankind, in dread or pride,
Made omens of the stars that wheel and glide!
A king sees doom; a conqueror sees grace;
Each paints his private purpose on thy face.
Thou carriest neither blessing nor decree—
The tale belongs to those who look at thee.

Then came a mind that questioned ancient lore,
And joined the comets seen in years before;
Through Newton’s laws, the scattered records came
To tell one wanderer had returned the same.
Edmund Halley, with patient thought and art,
Read Nature’s pattern where men saw a portent.

In nineteen-ten, the Earth crossed thy pale trail;
The rumour spread that breath itself might fail.
Yet fear outran the poison it foretold,
And fancy made the unseen terror bold.
How easily the mind, when facts are few,
Lets dread invent the danger it pursues.

In  nineteen-eighty-six, machines pursued thy flight,
And science sailed to meet thee in the night;
Where once men prayed, the probing instruments flew,
To ask what ancient ice and dust might knew.

In twenty-one-sixty-three, shall children raise their eyes,
To greet thy ancient splendour sweeping through the skies?
What worlds shall stand, what truths shall then be known,
What seeds of hope from ages past be grown?
Thou’lt cross their heavens, as thou hast crossed our own,
A timeless guest beneath a changing throne.
Thy secret heart, dark relic of the past,
Revealed a world where time itself is vast.