In the air do I behold indeed
An eagle and a serpent wreathed in fight,
And now, relaxing its impetuous flight,
Before th’ aerial rock on which I stood,
The eagle hovering wheeled to left and right,
And hung with lingering wings over the flood,
And startled with its yells the wide air’s solitude.
A shaft of light upon its wings descended,
And every golden feather gleamed therein,