Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A FLYING-FISH, by MARY SINTON LEITCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A FLYING-FISH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of bird and naiad you are born, a sprite
Last Line: Eludes both human heart and human tongue!
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Anglers


Of bird and naiad you are born, a sprite
Of air and water, wild and glad and free!
When white sails wing me o'er this warm delight --
The southern waste of lone cerulean sea --
My heart leaps up whene'er in riotous flight
You dart from watery realms of faery.

An envious diver hides her feathered breast
A moment in the waves, but you surprise
The cool green secrets of the sea unguessed
Of gull or mortal. Then, in magic wise
You change, and from a billow's curling crest
A bird, you sweep into the startled skies!

Whene'er the spendthrift moon her treasure flings
Over the waters, many a priceless gem
You snare within the meshes of your wings
That flash and shimmer, flare and flame with them --
Such emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, as kings
Have never worn in royal diadem.

What tender lullabies does ocean croon
In azure depths? Do nymphs and nereids smile
Upon you sporting in the surges strewn
With streaming stars, cleaving your course the while
Mid tall sea-flowers that swing and sway and swoon
Against the pillars of a coral isle?

A bright unerring arrow from the quiver
Of some mermaiden you are swift up-slung.
I watch the ocean mirror crack and shiver --
The sparkling fragments to the breezes flung . . . .
Alas, such ecstasy as yours forever
Eludes both human heart and human tongue!





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