Benjamin Peirce - Astronomer, Mathematician. 1809-1890

For him the Architect of all     Unroofed our planet's starlit hall;     Through voids unknown to worlds unseen     His clearer vision rose serene.     With us on earth he walked by day,     His midnight path how far away!     We knew him not so well who knew     The patient eyes his soul looked through;     For who his untrod realm could share     Of us that breathe this mortal air,     Or camp in that celestial tent     Whose fringes gild our firmament?     How vast the workroom where he brought     The viewless implements of thought!     The wit how subtle, how profound,     That Nature's tangled webs unwound;     That through the clouded matrix saw     The crystal planes of shaping law,     Through these the sovereign skill that planned, -     The Father's care, the Master's hand!     To him the wandering stars revealed     The secrets in their cradle sealed     The far-off, frozen sphere that swings     Through ether, zoned with lucid rings;     The orb that rolls in dim eclipse     Wide wheeling round its long ellipse, -     His name Urania writes with these     And stamps it on her Pleiades.     We knew him not? Ah, well we knew     The manly soul, so brave, so true,     The cheerful heart that conquered age,     The childlike silver-bearded sage.     No more his tireless thought explores     The azure sea with golden shores;     Rest, wearied frame I the stars shall keep     A loving watch where thou shalt sleep.     Farewell! the spirit needs must rise,     So long a tenant of the skies, -     Rise to that home all worlds above     Whose sun is God, whose light is love.