O FOR wings! that I might soar A little way above the floor, A little way beyond the roar -- A little nearer to the sky! To the blue hills, lifted high Out of all our misery. Where alone is heard the lark, Warbling in the infinite arc From the dawning to the dark; Where the callow eaglets wink On the bare and breezy brink, And slow pinions rise and sink. Where the dim white breakers beat Under cloud-drifts at our feet, Singing, singing, low and sweet; Where we see the glimmering bay Greyly melting far away, On the confines of the day; Where the green larch-fringes sweep Rocky defiles, still and steep; Where the tender lichens creep; Where the gentian-blossoms blow, Set in crystal stars of snow; Where the downward torrents flow To the plains and yellow leas, Glancing, twinkling through the trees -- Pure, as from celestial seas. Where the face of heaven has smiled Aye on freedom, sweet and wild, Aye on beauty undefiled. Where no sound of human speech, And no human passions, reach; Where the angels sit and teach. Where no troublous foot has trod; Where is impressed on the sod Only hand and heart of God! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MATERNITY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MILITARY MIND by CHARLIE SMITH DOWN-HILL ON A BICYCLE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER BATTLE OF THE BALTIC by THOMAS CAMPBELL TROAS: ACT II. LATTER END OF THE CHORUS by LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA |