Anthem Of Dawn

I     Then up the orient heights to the zenith, that balanced the crescent,--     Up and far up and over,--the heaven grew erubescent,     Vibrant with rose and with ruby from the hands of the harpist Dawn,     Smiting symphonic fire on the firmament's barbiton:     And the East was a priest who adored with offerings of gold and of gems,     And a wonderful carpet unrolled for the inaccessible hems     Of the glistening robes of her limbs; that, lily and amethyst,     Swept glorying on and on through temples of cloud and mist. 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;     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,     And hallelujah of Heaven! hosanna of Earth!