Sonnet - To Science

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
    Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
    Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise?
    Who would not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in jewelled skies,
    Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Has thou not dragged Diana from her car?
    And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
    Has thous not torn the Naiad from the flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dread beneath the tamarind tree?