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Away, away, without a wing,

O'er all, through all, its thought shall fly;

A nameless and eternal thing,

Forgetting what it was to die.

VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.

I.

THE King was on his throne,

The Satraps throng'd the hall;

A thousand bright lamps shone
O'er that high festival.

A thousand cups of gold,

In Judah deem'd divine

Jehovah's vessels hold

The godless Heathen's wine!

D

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.

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"The wisest of the earth,

"And expound the words of fear,

"Which mar our royal mirth.”

IV.

Chaldea's seers are good,

But here they have no skill; And the unknown letters stood

Untold and awful still.

And Babel's men of age

Are wise and deep in lore;

But now they were not sage,

They saw-but knew no more.

V.

A captive in the land,

A stranger and a youth,
He heard the king's command,
He saw that writing's truth.
The lamps around were bright,
The prophecy in view;

He read it on that night,—

The morrow proved it true.

D 2

VI.

"Belshazzar's grave is made, "His kingdom pass'd away,

"He in the balance weighed, "Is light and worthless clay. "The shroud, his robe of state, "His canopy, the stone;

"The Mede is at his gate!

"The Persian on his throne!"

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