Earths Eternity by John Clare Lyrics

Man, Earth's poor shadow! talks of Earth's decay
But hath it nothing of eternal kin?
No majesty that shall not pass away?
No soul of greatness springing up within?
Thought marks without hoar shadows of sublime
Pictures of power, which if not doomed to win
Eternity, stand laughing at old Time
For ages: in the grand ancestral line
Of things eternal, mounting to divine
I read Magnificence where ages pay
Worship like conquered foes to the Apennine
Because they could not conquer. There sits Day
Too high for Night to come at--mountains shine
Outpeering Time, too lofty for decay