WILD GEESE

Along the ocean's shingly edge,

Athwart the turquoise sweep of sky,

The wild geese in a winged wedge

Go darkling by.

From far lagoons be-plumed with palm,

By cove and cape, by bluff and bay,

Through depths of storm, through vasts of calm,

They speed their way.

The pharos flashes on their flight;

They do not heed its beckoning beam;

The great North, stretching weird and white,

Lures like a dream;

Lures, and they answer to the call;

Charms, and they yield them to the spell,

Moved ever by a subtle thrall

Inscrutable.

Do you not feel it, comrade, too,

The inescapable delight,

The mounting rapture, that bids you

Take vernal flight?