II

Then out of the splendor and richness, that burned like a magic stone,

The torrent suffusion that deepened and dazzled and broadened and shone,

The pomp and the pageant of color, triumphal procession of glare,

The sun, like a king in armor, breathing splendor from feet to hair,

Stood forth with majesty girdled, as a hero who towers afar

Where the bannered gates are bristling hells and the walls are roaring war:

And broad on the back of the world, like a Cherubin's fiery blade,

The effulgent gaze of his aspect fell in glittering accolade.

III

Then billowing blue, like an ocean, rolled from the shores of morn to even:

And the stars, like rafts, went down: and the moon, like a ghost-ship, driven,

A feather of foam, from port to port of the cloud-built isles that dotted,

With pearl and cameo, bays of the day, her canvas webbed and rotted,

Lay lost in the gulf of heaven: while over her mixed and melted

The beautiful children of Morn, whose bodies are opal-belted;

[15]

The beautiful daughters of Dawn, who, over and under, and after

The rivered radiance, wrestled; and rainbowed heaven with laughter

Of halcyon sapphire.—O Dawn! thou visible mirth,

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