Earth’s Complaint

Margaret Cavendish

O Nature, Nature, hearken to my cry,
Each minute wounded am, but cannot die.
My children which I from my womb did bear,
Do dig my sides, and all my bowels tear
Do plow deep furrows in my very face,
From torment, I have neither time, nor place.
No other element is so abused,
Nor by Mankind so cruelly is used.
Man cannot reach the skies to plow, and sow,
Nor can they set, or mark the stars to grow.
But they are still as Nature first did plant,
Neither maturity, nor growth they want.
They never die, nor do they yield their place
To younger stars, but still run their own race.
The sun doth never groan young suns to bear,
For he himself is his own son, and heir.
The Sun just in the center sits, as king,
The planets round about encircle him.
The slowest orbs over his head turn slow,
And underneath, the swiftest planets go.
Each several planet, several measures take,
And with their motions they sweet music make.
Thus all the planets round about him move,
And he returns them light for their kind love.

From Poems and Fancies (J. Martin and J. Allestrye, 1653). This poem is in the public domain.

A World Made By Atoms

Small atoms of themselves a world may make,
As being subtle, and of every shape:
And as they dance about, fit places find,
Such forms as best agree, make every kind.
For when we build a house of brick, and stone,
We lay them even, every one by one:
And when we find a gap that’s big, or small,
We seek out stones, to fit that place withall.
For when not fit, too big, or little be,
They fall away, and cannot stay we see.
So atoms, as they dance, find places fit,
They there remain, lie close, and fast will stick.

Margaret Cavendish

1653

Of Many Worlds in This World

Just like as in a nest of boxes round,
Degrees of sizes in each box are found:
So, in this world, may many others be
Thinner and less, and less still by degree:
Although they are not subject to our sense,
A world may be no bigger than two-pence.
Nature is curious, and such works may shape,
Which our dull senses easily escape:
For creatures, small as atoms, may there be,
If every one a creature’s figure bear.
If atoms four, a world can make, then see
What several worlds might in an ear-ring be:
For, millions of those atoms may be in
The head of one small, little, single pin.
And if thus s

Margaret Cavendish

1653

Poems

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Earth’s Complaint

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A World Made By Atoms

Of Many Worlds in This World

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