Charles Walter Stansby Williams

Saint Michael

There was a motion within Deity,
And the first seraph lived, saw, and became
One cry through all his nature and his name,
Mi-ca-El: Who is like to Thee? Thence to be,
Began the hierarchic mystery
Of spirit, where, though he be first be in fame-
Goldenly helmed, thrice ringed, thrice winged with flame-
Yet each of his angels is hardly less than he.

But all his angels and he, gathered into one
Fire, as a lantern high upon the mast
Of the Admiral's vessel shine; and in their track,
With night watch set and guards at every gun,
Float through the ocean of the unknown vast
The twelve huge ships of the labouring Zodiac.