"@3He shall rise up at the voice of a bird@1." -- ECCLESIASTES WHO then is "he"? Dante, Keats, Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley; all Rose in their greatness at the shrill decree, The little rousing inarticulate call. For they stood up At the bird-voice, of lark, of nightingale, Drank poems from that throat as from a cup. Over the great world's notes did these prevail. And not alone The signal poets woke. In listening man, Woman, and child a poet stirs unknown, Throughout the Mays of birds since Mays began. He rose, he heard -- Our father, our St. Peter, in his tears -- The crowing, twice, of the prophetic bird, The saddest cock-crow of our human years. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FAIR HARVARD by GEORGE SANTAYANA HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX by ROBERT BROWNING SUMMER LONGINGS by DENIS FLORENCE MCCARTHY LEFT BEHIND by ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HYMEN AND CUPID - MARRIAGE AND LOVE by APHRA BEHN THE EPITAPH OF RAPHAEL by PIETRO BEMBO NEW YORK HARBOR by PARK BENJAMIN |