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SAECLA FERARUM

BY WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

I

'Twas when at last the million flags were stacked
And all the Chiefs had signed the Great Peace Pact,
I saw before a winter's dawn the stars,
In skies as strange as if I saw from Mars:
The Dipper toppling on its handle-end,
Arcturus under, carrying out the bend;
Orion's Oblong tilted, twisted, slim,
With Sirius spurting fire atop of him;
The V of Taurus poised upon its point,
And moonless Dragon sprawling out of joint,
With Jupiter so bright, a fool had said
A comet's tail was arching from its head....
Aratus, when he sang his Caralogue,
Saw not the Shining Ones so far agog;
And no witch-woman with a Libyan cry
E'er charmed the Constellations so awry....

II

And then across the frozen marshes leapt

A train's fierce whistle while my townsmen slept;