Classic Poem

DESOLATION follows
Drought of the spirit;
Desolation comes,
And joy departs:
Joy the elated,
Joy the elusive,
Whither have you sped,
O, swift-winged joy?

Are you bestriding
Curvetting rainbows,
Mounted aloft
On zebra-rainbows?
Or are you poised
Upon horns of granite,
Sky-tossing horns
Of buffalo-mountains?
Or do you dance
Upon coils crystàlline,
The monstrous coils
Of the serpent-ocean?

Never a gleam
In life's dusty desert,
Never a glimpse
Of your brave bright wings,
Can I discover,
Where do you hover?
Whither have you fled,
O, fleet-winged joy?