 | Forest leaves |  |
49
TO A FLIGHT OF WILD GEESE.
Dark wing'd couriers of the sky,
Riding on the stormy air,
Shouting forth your clarion cry,
Winter comes, prepare! prepare!
Riding on the stormy air,
Shouting forth your clarion cry,
Winter comes, prepare! prepare!
Tell me, ye who ride the waves,
Ye who breast the thunder storm;
Issuing from the northern caves,
Saw ye winter's icy form?
Ye who breast the thunder storm;
Issuing from the northern caves,
Saw ye winter's icy form?
Times' and seasons' mystic lore,
How did ye, wild birds, attain?
Which Astrologers of yore
Perill'd souls to find, in vain.
How did ye, wild birds, attain?
Which Astrologers of yore
Perill'd souls to find, in vain.
Read ye on the page of heaven
That which wandering planets write?
Are, by flaming meteors given
Signals of your time of flight?
That which wandering planets write?
Are, by flaming meteors given
Signals of your time of flight?
Or do spirit-voices come
From the night winds' drifting car,
Whispering through your summer home
Of a lovelier land, afar?
From the night winds' drifting car,
Whispering through your summer home
Of a lovelier land, afar?
Do ye on your mighty sails
Float majestically forth,
When the current of the gales
Rolls its billows from the North?
Float majestically forth,
When the current of the gales
Rolls its billows from the North?
50
Tell me, Oh ye free, and strong,
Shouting thus upon the air,
Where ye love, and rear your young,
Where your summer dwellings are?
Shouting thus upon the air,
Where ye love, and rear your young,
Where your summer dwellings are?
Lie they where some lucid lake
Looks to heaven with dimpling smiles,
While its whispering wavelets break
Round the feet of fairy isles?
Looks to heaven with dimpling smiles,
While its whispering wavelets break
Round the feet of fairy isles?
Rich with spirit-haunted bowers
Where the languid south wind comes,
Dreaming through the noon-day hours,
Cradled by the balmy blooms.
Where the languid south wind comes,
Dreaming through the noon-day hours,
Cradled by the balmy blooms.
Where as soft as angels' dreams
Lie the lingering twilight hours,
And the moon's pellucid beams
Steal like spirits through the bowers.
Lie the lingering twilight hours,
And the moon's pellucid beams
Steal like spirits through the bowers.
Where the richest grasses spread
Every where beneath your feet;
And the wild rice bends its head,
Offering a delicious treat.
Every where beneath your feet;
And the wild rice bends its head,
Offering a delicious treat.
Round these islands of delight,
Fearless of the threat'ning gale,
Thron'd upon the ripples bright,
Did ye like fair galleys sail?
Fearless of the threat'ning gale,
Thron'd upon the ripples bright,
Did ye like fair galleys sail?
51
Trac'd ye many a lovely shore
By the foot of man untrod,
Where the robe that Nature wore,
Was the handiwork of God?
By the foot of man untrod,
Where the robe that Nature wore,
Was the handiwork of God?
Whither wing ye now your way?
Will ye pass the wintry hours
Where the placid southern sea
Sighs along enchanted shores?
Will ye pass the wintry hours
Where the placid southern sea
Sighs along enchanted shores?
Beautiful, and wing'd with might!
Free as Freedom's mountain wind;
Heedless ye pursue your flight,
Leaving trace, nor voice behind.
Free as Freedom's mountain wind;
Heedless ye pursue your flight,
Leaving trace, nor voice behind.
| Forest leaves | |