Light-Winged Smoke

LIGHT-WINGED Smoke, Icarian bird,

            Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,

            Lark without song, and the messenger of dawn,

            Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;

            Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form

            Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;

            By night star-veiling, and by day

            Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;

            Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,

            And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.