 | Voices and visions |  |
138
COINCIDENCE
Where these waste winter swamplands quaff
A brackish creek's chill ooze and drain,
The uncouth poles of the telegraph
Loom spangled thick with frozen rain.
A brackish creek's chill ooze and drain,
The uncouth poles of the telegraph
Loom spangled thick with frozen rain.
Careless of each rude blast that stings,
A bevy of birds, in tumult fleet,
Shower down upon the ice-clad strings
And clutch them with courageous feet.
A bevy of birds, in tumult fleet,
Shower down upon the ice-clad strings
And clutch them with courageous feet.
And now, below the sky's harsh gleams,
In teeth of gusts whence discord floats,
A monstrous bar of music seems
To tower, with birds' black shapes for notes.
In teeth of gusts whence discord floats,
A monstrous bar of music seems
To tower, with birds' black shapes for notes.
Then, radiant where the steel-grey west
Has drowsed like some stern arctic lake,
Roughening it into glad unrest,
The obtrusive sun's broad splendours break.
Has drowsed like some stern arctic lake,
Roughening it into glad unrest,
The obtrusive sun's broad splendours break.
On the strange emblem full they dash
The glory of their fresh-kindled fires,
Till visible music seems to flash
And fade along the illumined wires!
The glory of their fresh-kindled fires,
Till visible music seems to flash
And fade along the illumined wires!
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