  When the great sun flung bands of gold (Bands to the number of seven) On the limpid sea, we followed the gold And climbed on our way to Heaven. There to the portals of cloud and storm, Piled high in the regions of thunder, Till we reached the sky, in its columns of storm, And God's gates rolled asunder. Below, the world like a ball of mist With us, pearl and jacinth and beryl, And it faded away, that pearl-grey mist, And we clung to the gates in peril. Myrrh and incense, and jacinth and pearl, How we cringed on the floor of Heaven! And the great sun drew its bands from the pearl. Bands to the number of seven. And now, as we gaze from our star-crowned sphere To the shadows, where earth is seeming, We know that that hazy circling sphere Was only a sinner's dreaming! |
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