If a sparrow were to carry the earth away
One grain of sand--each flight--
To a place beyond all worlds unknown,
Far away from pollution, or blight,

Ten thousand times ten thousand years,
As the ages come and go,
If the sparrow's wings keep diligence
On its mission to and fro,

While the oceans distill and mist away,
And are never again to be,
The time, well spent of the sparrow's wings,
Has scarce been---eternity.