More clear, more vivid than the glare of day!

What marvel, then, that with a breathless hope

That gave me wings, forth from my home I rushed,

Though heaved the earth as if instinct with life,

Its very dust awakening! Can it be—

Is this the call, “Behold the Bridegroom comes!”

Comes He, the long-expected—long-desired?

Crowds thronged the street, with every face upturned,

Gazing into the sky—the flaming sky—

Where every cloud was like a throne of light.