Bertram Dobell (1842–1914)

HIS home a speck in a vast Universe,

He a mere atom on that tiny speck,

Victim of countless evils that coerce

And force him onward on a pathless track:

And yet a being made to dominate

O’er all things else by mind’s controlling power:

Spoilt favourite at once and sport of fate,

Football of fortune, time’s consummate flower!

To him alone did Nature’s self impart

A spark of her divinest energy,

With power to create a world of Art,

And intellect to solve all mystery:

So great and yet so little! blest and curst—

Nature’s most noble offspring—yet her worst!