Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
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Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
In that immortal copy
The conscience of us all
Can read without its glasses
On revelation's wall.

I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
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I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
[Fr., Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas
eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.]

Line after line my gushing eye o'erflow,
Led thro' a said variety of woe:
Now warm in read more

Line after line my gushing eye o'erflow,
Led thro' a said variety of woe:
Now warm in love, now with'ring in my bloom,
Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night stays these couriers
from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night stays these couriers
from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful; messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, read more

He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful; messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some.

Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose,
That well-known name awakens all my woes.

Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose,
That well-known name awakens all my woes.

Good-bye--my paper's out so nearly,
I've only room for, Yours sincerely.

Good-bye--my paper's out so nearly,
I've only room for, Yours sincerely.

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent read more

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent wish conveys,
And wafts embodied though, a thousand ways:
Could souls to bodies write, death's pow'r were mean,
For minds could then meet minds with heav'n between.

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the
king's ring, and sent letters by read more

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the
king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders
on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: . . . .
So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being
hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the
decrees was given at Shushan the palace.