Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/342

 336 REDEMPTION.

Sweeps o'er the plains, and noonday blanks with night ;

Or, ocean's emerald drops, sparkling with sheen,

When winds contrary, spume with glitt'ring spray.

Chariots and charioteers, and prancing steeds,

Ten thousand times ten thousand thousands arm'd ;

Not hostile arm'd, as when, with vengeful force,

Met warring angels, fierce, heav'n's sovereignty

To test, careering on with roaring wheels,

Smoke, bickering flames, and discord's horrid clang,

That shook vast empyrean's solid base ;

But as on earth oft seen, some gala day,

When knights, at tournament of arms, enter

The lists, caparison' d in gold ; or as,

When conquerors, from war return'd, complete

With trophies graced, approach some capital,

In holiday costume of burnish'd arms ;

(If few to num'rous, or earth's splendors, may

To heavenly ardor be compared ;) so these,

Banners aloft, celestial art emblazed,

With standards fix'd, and ensigns to the wind,

Radiant athwart th' interminable files,

Far streaming, in refulgent glory gleam,

And brighter cause the heav'nly plains to glow.

Princes and dominations, thrones and powers,

In panoply of state, and regal crown'd,

Approach; angels, archangels, cherubim

Sweet voiced, and swift wing'd seraphs flaming, skim

Th' ethereal blue ; or vaulting high, o'er

Moving phalanx hover, convez, round, moon'd,

Cube, square, or lengthen'd line, instinctive form'd,

To sound of trump and harp, melodious chimed.

Whilst round the throne, the heavenly Hierarchs draw,

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