THE WILD SWANS PASS

In the dead of the night

You turned in your troubled sleep

As you heard the wild swans pass;

And then you slept again.

You slept —

While a new world swam beneath

That army of eager wings,

While plainland and slough and lake

Lay wide to those outstretched throats,

While the far lone Lights allured

That phalanx of passionate breasts.

And I who had loved you more

Than a homing bird loves flight,—

I watched with an ache for freedom,

I rose with a need for life,

Knowing that love had passed

Into its unknown North!