 | W. V. Her Book and Various Verses |  |
Behold! a speck, high in the blazing blue,
Hung black—a single speck above the waste;
Hung poised an hour; then dropped through leagues of air,
Plumb as a stone; and as it dropped they saw
Through leagues of high blue air, to north and south,
To east and west, black specks that sprang from space,
And then long sinuous lines of distant spots
Which flew converging—growing, as they flew,
To slanting streams and palpitating swarms;
Which flew converging out of all the heavens,
And blackened, as they flew, the sapphire blaze,
And jarred the fiery hush with winnowing wings;
Which flew converging on a single point
Deep in the jungle waste, and, as they swooped,
Paused in the last long slide with dangling claws,
Then dropped like stone.
Hung black—a single speck above the waste;
Hung poised an hour; then dropped through leagues of air,
Plumb as a stone; and as it dropped they saw
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To east and west, black specks that sprang from space,
And then long sinuous lines of distant spots
Which flew converging—growing, as they flew,
To slanting streams and palpitating swarms;
Which flew converging out of all the heavens,
And blackened, as they flew, the sapphire blaze,
And jarred the fiery hush with winnowing wings;
Which flew converging on a single point
Deep in the jungle waste, and, as they swooped,
Paused in the last long slide with dangling claws,
Then dropped like stone.
Thus knew the giant brood
That Cain was dead.
That Cain was dead.
| W. V. Her Book and Various Verses | |