Floats on the river's bosom in the sunshine,

Bubble after bubble,

Perishing in air.

So, a moment, over me,

With frail and fleeting glimmer

Of strange elusive, evanescent light,

The holy vision hovered.

And yet, whenever, with a fervent longing,

I sought to look into the darkling eyes,

The face would fade from me,

As foam caught in an eddy:

Until, at last, I wakened,

And, wondering, saw a pale star gleaming

Betwixt the cedar-branches.

And soon our captors stirred:

And we arose, to see

The walls and towers of Babylon, dark

Against the clear rose of the afterglow,

Already in the surge of shadows caught,

As night, beneath us, slowly Westward swept,

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