 | Lyrical Poems |  |
115
SURSUM
On the gray granite spire
Alone with the sharp air, and glancing skies,
The callow bird unfilm'd his fervent eyes,
And, like a cry, sent a moist glance of fire
Onward and upward.
Alone with the sharp air, and glancing skies,
The callow bird unfilm'd his fervent eyes,
And, like a cry, sent a moist glance of fire
Onward and upward.
Too slight those untried wings
To buoy his soaring from the nest as yet:
But on the zenith sun his sight is set,
And miles above the earth his heart he flings,
Onward and upward.
To buoy his soaring from the nest as yet:
But on the zenith sun his sight is set,
And miles above the earth his heart he flings,
Onward and upward.
His dizzy birthplace height
To the young eagle heart seems all too low
To swoop from, on the vale, where feeding go
Dim cattle-specks: his home is with the light.
Onward and upward.
To the young eagle heart seems all too low
To swoop from, on the vale, where feeding go
Dim cattle-specks: his home is with the light.
Onward and upward.
116
Hour of heroic dreams!
—But when the day of might has come at length,
And the brown wings thrill with elastic strength,
Forth to the golden goal of youth he streams,
Onward and upward!
—But when the day of might has come at length,
And the brown wings thrill with elastic strength,
Forth to the golden goal of youth he streams,
Onward and upward!
Then, without haste or stay,
Alone, unfriended, on that silent height,
Through the keen torrents of eye-searing light,
Through realms of blazing frost, he beats his way
Onward and upward.
Alone, unfriended, on that silent height,
Through the keen torrents of eye-searing light,
Through realms of blazing frost, he beats his way
Onward and upward.
And the great hills afar
Melt down beneath the clouds, one misty plain;
Whence, through the rift, with eyes that skyward strain,
The shepherd sees him moving like a star
Onward and upward.
Melt down beneath the clouds, one misty plain;
Whence, through the rift, with eyes that skyward strain,
The shepherd sees him moving like a star
Onward and upward.
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