Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/431

Rh VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.

I.

King was on his throne,

The Satraps thronged the hall:

A thousand bright lamps shone

O'er that high festival.

A thousand cups of gold,

In Judah deemed divine—

Jehovah's vessels hold

The godless Heathen's wine!

II.

In that same hour and hall,

The fingers of a hand

Came forth against the wall,

And wrote as if on sand:

The fingers of a man;—

A solitary hand

Along the letters ran,

And traced them like a wand.

III.

The monarch saw, and shook,

And bade no more rejoice;

All bloodless waxed his look,

And tremulous his voice.

"Let the men of lore appear,

The wisest of the earth,