Mountain Spring and Other Poems

<h2><SPAN name="THE_MIGRATORY_SWANS" id="THE_MIGRATORY_SWANS" />THE MIGRATORY SWANS</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span>A necklace in the depth of blue<br/></span> <span>Of scintillating, silvery pearls,<br/></span> <span>Which peering eagerly we view<br/></span> <span>As gracefully it curves and whirls,<br/></span> <span>Safely and swiftly, far away<br/></span> <span>They seek the groves of date and lime;<br/></span> <span>Naught can arrest and naught dismay<br/></span> <span>From heights so lofty and sublime.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>In dreams alone their wintry home<br/></span> <span>Can haunt them with its ice and snow;<br/></span> <span>Mingled with visions as they come<br/></span> <span>Of shimmering waves where lilies grow<br/></span> <span>And open lakes are fresh and clear,<br/></span> <span>Fit mirror for a plumaged breast,<br/></span> <span>Shaded by moss-grown trees. 'Tis here<br/></span> <span>They'll dip and dive in gleeful rest.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Vanished! and vainly do we try<br/></span> <span>To trace upon the distant air<br/></span> <span>That scroll which written on the sky<br/></span> <span>Told of the hand which led them there.<br/></span> <span>Could we upon our heavenward way<br/></span> <span>From tempting snares as far remove<br/></span> <span>And be as disenthralled as they,<br/></span> <span>We'd plainer show a guiding love.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>We skim too closely to the earth,<br/></span> <span>We press too slowly for the prize,<br/></span> <span>Let thoughts and cares of trivial worth<br/></span> <span>Retard our journey to the skies.<br/></span> <span>Oh, let us watch and pray to have<br/></span> <span>A loftier flight from transient things,<br/></span> <span>Inspired like swans at last to lave<br/></span> <span>In streams of bliss our wearied wings!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />