Classic Poem

A SWAN and cygnets, nothing more.
Background of silver, reedy shore,
Dim shapes of rounded trees, the high
Effulgence of a summer sky.

Only a snap-shot. Just a flash,
And it was fixed, — the mimic wash,
The parent bird on-oaring slow,
Her fussy little fleet in tow,
The all-pervading sultry haze,
The white lights on the waterways, —
A scene that never was before,
A scene that will be — Nevermore!

Alas! for us. We look and wait,
And labour but to imitate;
Vainly for new effects we seek...
Earth's shortest second is unique!