 | Going-to-the-sun |  |
26
THE PHEASANT SPEAKS OF HIS BIRTHDAYS
Up the good slope of Going-To-The-Sun,
I saw the Pheasant-Of-The-Sunrise fly.
Jewels in his feathers, mixed with dew.
Dew and jewels made his jeweled eye.
He paused to make a sonnet, which he sang,
Though nowhere else are pheasants sonneteers.
He emphasized with swooping and with skipping,
With winkings and intoxicated leers.
And how the bushes twinkled as he caroled:
I saw the Pheasant-Of-The-Sunrise fly.
Jewels in his feathers, mixed with dew.
Dew and jewels made his jeweled eye.
He paused to make a sonnet, which he sang,
Though nowhere else are pheasants sonneteers.
He emphasized with swooping and with skipping,
With winkings and intoxicated leers.
And how the bushes twinkled as he caroled:
“Each morning is another birthday, friend.
And I have lived so many happy birthdays!
There are gifts with all the suns that here ascend!
Each bush, you see, has an unextinguished candle
And angel-food, and icing, and candy flowers,
And this long vine that climbs from earth to heaven
Gives me thoughts, and most erratic powers.
I eat its scarlet berries and its frosting.
If I choose, it is my present every day.
Then I can fly straight up to heaven's doorstep
Following the green line all the way.
“And then I tumble like a limber leaf
To my nest here, and another year is done
Or another thousand years, what does it matter
On the mountain peak called ‘Going-To-The-Sun’?”
And I have lived so many happy birthdays!
There are gifts with all the suns that here ascend!
Each bush, you see, has an unextinguished candle
And angel-food, and icing, and candy flowers,
And this long vine that climbs from earth to heaven
Gives me thoughts, and most erratic powers.
I eat its scarlet berries and its frosting.
If I choose, it is my present every day.
Then I can fly straight up to heaven's doorstep
Following the green line all the way.
29
To my nest here, and another year is done
Or another thousand years, what does it matter
On the mountain peak called ‘Going-To-The-Sun’?”
| Going-to-the-sun | |