Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray,
Each read more

Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray,
Each in the south melting.

There was an awful rainbow once in heaven;
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
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There was an awful rainbow once in heaven;
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings.

And, lo! in the dark east, expanded high,
The rainbow brightens to the setting Sun.

And, lo! in the dark east, expanded high,
The rainbow brightens to the setting Sun.

Over her hung a canopy of state,
Not of rich tissue, nor of spangled gold,
But of read more

Over her hung a canopy of state,
Not of rich tissue, nor of spangled gold,
But of a substance, though not animate,
Yet of a heavenly and spiritual mould,
That only eyes of spirits might behold.

What skilful limner e'er would choose
To paint the rainbow's varying hues,
Unless to mortal it were read more

What skilful limner e'er would choose
To paint the rainbow's varying hues,
Unless to mortal it were given
To dip his brush in dyes of heaven?

O beautiful rainbow;--all woven of light!
There's not in thy tissue one shadow of night;
Heaven surely read more

O beautiful rainbow;--all woven of light!
There's not in thy tissue one shadow of night;
Heaven surely is open when thou dost appear.
And, bending thee above, the angels draw near,
And sing,--"The rainbow! the rainbow!
The smile of God is here."

Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky
When storms prepare to part,
I ask not proud Philosophy
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Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky
When storms prepare to part,
I ask not proud Philosophy
To teach me what thou art.

Hung on the shower that fronts the golden West,
The rainbow bursts like magic on mine eyes!
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Hung on the shower that fronts the golden West,
The rainbow bursts like magic on mine eyes!
In hues of ancient promise there imprest;
Frail in its date, eternal in its guise.

God loves an idle rainbow,
No less than laboring seas.

God loves an idle rainbow,
No less than laboring seas.