Man's Greatness and Littleness

His home a speck in a vast Universe,He a mere atom on that tiny speck,Victim of countless evils that coerceAnd force him onward on a pathless track;And yet a being made to dominateO'er all things else by mind's controlling power:Spoiled favourite at once and sport of fate,Football of fortune, time's consummate flower!To him alone did nature's self impartA spark of her divinest energy,With power to create the world of Art,And intellect to solve all mystery:So great and yet so little! blessed and cursed,—Nature's most noble offspring—yet her worst!