Birds of wrath with their plumage of fire all bedight
Over heaven's white portals were borne in their flight;
On the marble the fiery refulgences flared.
Then swiftly o'er ocean the wanderers fared.
But upon the pure marble, the threshold unstained,
There was something unwonted that flushed and remained; —
'Neath the crystalline vault never-ending aloft
Most secret enticements by angels were quaffed.
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Note: The metre of the original has not been reproduced.