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." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EROS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON ON THE MEDUSA OF LEONARDO DA VINCI IN THE FLORENTINE GALLERY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY OF MAIDENS' PRAISE: AN INVOCATION by SAINT ALDHELM A DIALOGUE (TO BE SUNG TO THE VIOL, BY A BASE, AND A TREBLE) by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |