The Wild Geese
I had no sail to cross the sea,
A brave white bird went forth from me,
My heart was hid beneath his wing:
O strong white bird, come back in spring!
I watched the Wild Geese rise and cry
Across the flaring western sky;
Their winnowing pinions clove the light,
Then vanished, and came down the night.
I laid me low, my day was done,
I longed not for the morrow's sun,
But closely swathed in swoon of sleep,
Forgot to hope, forgot to weep.
The moon, through veils of gloomy red,
A warm yet dusky radiance shed
All down our valley's golden stream
And flushed my slumber with a dream.
Her mystic torch lit up my brain;
My spirit rose and lived amain,
And follow through the windy spray
That bird upon its watery way.
" O wild white bird, O wail for me!
My soul hath wings to fly with thee:
On foam waves, lengthening out afar,
We'll ride toward the western star.
" O'er glimmering plains, through forest gloom,
To track a wanderer's feet I come;
'Mid lonely swamp, by haunted brake,
I'll pass unfrighted for his sake.
" Alone, afar, his footsteps roam,
The stars his roof, the tent his home
Saw'st thou what way the Wild Geese flew
To sunward through the thick night dew?
" Carry my soul where he abides,
And pierce the mystery that hides
His presence, and through time and space
Look with mine eyes upon his face. "
" Beside his prairie fire he rests,
All feathered things are in their nests:
" What strange wild bird is this," he saith,
" Still fragrant with the ocean's breath?
" " Perch on my hand, thou briny thing,
And let me stroke thy shy wet wing;
What message in thy soft eye thrills?
I see again my native hills.
" " And vale, the river's silver streak,
The mist upon the blue, blue peak,
The shadows grey, the golden sheaves,
The mossy walls, the russet eaves.
" " I greet the friends I've loved and lost,
Do all forget? No, tempest-tost,
That braved for me the ocean's foam,
Some heart remembers me at home.
" " Ere spring's return I will be there,
Thou strange sea-fragrant messenger!
I wake and weep; the moon shines sweet,
O dream too short! O bird too fleet!" "
A brave white bird went forth from me,
My heart was hid beneath his wing:
O strong white bird, come back in spring!
I watched the Wild Geese rise and cry
Across the flaring western sky;
Their winnowing pinions clove the light,
Then vanished, and came down the night.
I laid me low, my day was done,
I longed not for the morrow's sun,
But closely swathed in swoon of sleep,
Forgot to hope, forgot to weep.
The moon, through veils of gloomy red,
A warm yet dusky radiance shed
All down our valley's golden stream
And flushed my slumber with a dream.
Her mystic torch lit up my brain;
My spirit rose and lived amain,
And follow through the windy spray
That bird upon its watery way.
" O wild white bird, O wail for me!
My soul hath wings to fly with thee:
On foam waves, lengthening out afar,
We'll ride toward the western star.
" O'er glimmering plains, through forest gloom,
To track a wanderer's feet I come;
'Mid lonely swamp, by haunted brake,
I'll pass unfrighted for his sake.
" Alone, afar, his footsteps roam,
The stars his roof, the tent his home
Saw'st thou what way the Wild Geese flew
To sunward through the thick night dew?
" Carry my soul where he abides,
And pierce the mystery that hides
His presence, and through time and space
Look with mine eyes upon his face. "
" Beside his prairie fire he rests,
All feathered things are in their nests:
" What strange wild bird is this," he saith,
" Still fragrant with the ocean's breath?
" " Perch on my hand, thou briny thing,
And let me stroke thy shy wet wing;
What message in thy soft eye thrills?
I see again my native hills.
" " And vale, the river's silver streak,
The mist upon the blue, blue peak,
The shadows grey, the golden sheaves,
The mossy walls, the russet eaves.
" " I greet the friends I've loved and lost,
Do all forget? No, tempest-tost,
That braved for me the ocean's foam,
Some heart remembers me at home.
" " Ere spring's return I will be there,
Thou strange sea-fragrant messenger!
I wake and weep; the moon shines sweet,
O dream too short! O bird too fleet!" "
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