IF this little world to-night <br />Suddenly should fall through space <br />In a hissing, headlong flight, <br />Shrivelling from off its face, <br />As it falls into the sun, <br />In an instant every trace <br />Of the little crawling things— <br />Ants, philosophers, and lice, <br />Cattle, cockroaches, and kings, <br />Beggars, millionaires, and mice, <br />Men and maggots,—all as one <br />As it falls into the sun,— <br />Who can say but at the same <br />Instant from some planet far <br />A child may watch us and exclaim: <br />“See the pretty shooting star!”<br /><br />Oliver Herford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/proem-7/
