I watched the gulls in shimmering changeful flight, Darting and wheeling on incessant wing, And each a buoyant and impulsive thing, Kin to the smiling sea and sunny light; Until, down swooping from his azure height, One broke his air-play into plundering, Snatched out his victim from a wave a-swing, And spoiled that paradise with murderous blight. Thus, thus," I thought, "the blessed angels know Our mortal sportings in diviner air, How happily our fancies come and go On wings of sweet ideals high and fair; And how, alas! we often plunge below On brutal errands in the waves of care." |