XLIV.
Mingled with thankful prayers, shout after shout
Of sudden joy from far-off cities rose.
And now the birds in strange alarm fly out
From hidden nests, now flap their wings in close
And closer circles round the flame;—as glows
From tower to tower the ascending beacon-light
Thro’ all the excited land, and eastward throws
Its gladdening rays, and westward takes its flight,
Blaze answering to blaze from hill and mountain height.
XLV.
Skimming the lake it passed, and o’er the stream,
A band of light, till on the ocean's breast
Scattering its diamonds, fairer than the gleam
Of Evening-Star, it glittered in its rest,
Its happy mission done.
What lips unblest
As mine, a nation’s joy and loud acclaim
For life can tell? When all in garlands drest,
With rapturous songs greeted the Day’s bright beam,
That dawning o’er the cast in cloudless brilliance came.
