The Nature of Infinity

字號(hào):


     The nature of Infinity is this: That every thing has its
     Own Vortex; and when once a traveller thro' Eternity
     Has pass'd that Vortex, he perceives it roll backward behind
     His path, into a Globe itself enfolding, like a sun,
     Or like a moon, or like a universe of starry majesty,
     While he keeps onwards in his wondrous journey on the Earth,
     Or like a human form, a friend with whom he liv'd benevolent.
     As the eye of man views both the East and West, encompassing
     Its vortex, and the North and South with all their starry host,
     Also the rising sun and setting moon he views, surrounding
     His corn-fields and his valleys of five hundred acres square.
     Thus is the Earth one infinite plane, and not as apparent
     To the weak traveller confin'd beneath the moony shade.
     Thus is the Heaven a Vortex pass'd already, and the Earth
     A Vortex not yet pass'd by the traveller thro' Eternity.