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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SEA-BIRD; OFF PERU by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR

First Line: O TO BE A SEA-BIRD ONE CELESTIAL DAY
Last Line: IN GOD'S AZURE ONLY SUN AND SEA AND I!
Subject(s): BIRDS; GULLS; NATURE - RELIGIOUS ASPECTS; SOUTH AMERICA; SEAGULLS;

O TO be a sea-bird one celestial day,
Sailing, sailing, sailing past the wind away!
All the crested billows rolling bright below,
All the boundless heaven balm and light and glow;
Ah, what life, what rapture wide-winged thus to fly,
In God's azure only sun and sea and I!

O to poise in ether, high o'er cloudy bars,
Where the cross at midnight burns among the stars!
See, to eastward, Andes lift their snows in air,
Westward bowery islands beckoning, Eden-fair;
Ah, what life, what rapture, wide-winged thus to fly,
In God's azure only sun and sea and I!

O the primal freedom, O the glorious ease,
Flashing down the breakers, floating with the breeze!
Still in rosy morning, sunset's golden shine,
Sailing, sailing, sailing blithe above the brine!
Ah, what life, what rapture, wide-winged thus to fly,
In God's azure only sun and sea and I!



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