Ethereal diadem ! whose blended rays
From no meridian splendor won —
Yet burst, full-formed, upon the wondrous gaze,
A frontlet braided by the sun.
Celestial smile ! beneath whose beams the dove
Afar the olive branch descried.
And bore the emblem of returning love
Across the water's ebbing tide.
Resplendent arc ! whose prism-blended hues
First dwelt above with One alone, —
Till He the holy effluence did diffuse
Around the footstool of His throne.
Sign-manual of God ! inscribed on high,
In characters of glowing light —
Where, on the tablet of the vaulted sky,
None but Divinity could write !