[1]
Charles to his teacher--Sir, you say
That nature's laws admit decay--
That changes never cease;
And yet you say, no void or space;
'Tis only change of shape or place--
No loss, and no increase.

[2]
That space or vacuum, sir, explain--
When solid sense forsakes the brain,
Pray what supplies its place?
O, sir, I think I see it now--
When substance fails, you will allow
Air occupies the space.

[3]
Not so, my child, that rule must fail;
For, by my philosophic scale,
The substitute for sense
Is lighter far than common air;
And with the most consummate care,
No chemic skill can dense.

[4]
But when misfortune turns the screw,
'Tis oft compress'd from outward view--
By outward force confin'd:
But with expansive power 'twill rise,
Destroy the man, increase his size,
And swell his optics blind.

[5]
Of various hues, yet still the same;
Though mental gas its chemic name,
Some Poets call it pride:
Th' important aid this gas imparts
Among the various human arts
Can never be denied.

[6]
This gas, entire, may be obtain'd
From skulls whence sense is mostly drain'd,
Or never had supplies:
But were the noblest heads disclos'd,
From acts and motives decompos'd,
This mental gas would rise.

[7]
The parson's lecture, lawyer's plea,
Devoted sums of charity,
The sage with book profound;
The Muse's pen, the churchman's creed,
The mill-boy on his pacing steed,
Are more or less compound.

Other 19th-century Mormon poetry