MAN is permitted much
To scan and learn
In Nature-s frame;
Till he well-nigh can tame
Brute mischiefs, and can touch
Invisible things, and turn
All warring ills to purposes of good.
Thus, as a god below,
He can control,
And harmonize, what seems amiss to flow
As sever-d from the whole
And dimly understood.

But o-er the elements
One Hand alone,
One Hand has sway.
What influence day by day
In straiter belt prevents
The impious Ocean, thrown
Alternate o-er the ever-sounding shore?
Or who has eye to trace
How the Plague came?
Forerun the doublings of the Tempest-s race?
Or the Air-s weight and flame
On a set scale explore?

Thus God has will-d
That man, when fully skill-d,
Still gropes in twilight dim;
Encompass-d all his hours
By fearfullest powers
Inflexible to him.
That so he may discern
His feebleness,
And e-en for earth-s success
To Him in wisdom turn,
Who holds for us the keys of either home,
Earth and the world to come.