Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A WATERFOWL, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A WATERFOWL, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whither, midst falling dew
Last Line: Will lead my steps aright.
Variant Title(s): The Waterfowl
Subject(s): Birds; Faith; God; Migration; Nature; Religion; Soldiers; Waterfowl; Belief; Creed; Theology


Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean-side?

There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along the pathless coast --
The desert and illimitable air, --
Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end:
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way, that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.





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