Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SWALLOWS by AFANASI AFANASIEVICH FET

First Line: ON NATURE EVER IDLY SPYING
Last Line: AND YEARN TO SCOOP A DROP AWAY?
Subject(s): SWALLOWS;

ON nature ever idly spying,
Forgetting all around, I'm fond
Of watching arrowy swallows flying,
When evening comes, above the pond.

See there a swallow darting, scratching
The glassy surface, till I fear
The alien element will be catching
The wings that swift as lightning veer.

Again that confident elation,
Again dark water flowing by ...
Is it not such, my inspiration?
And, among human beings, I?

Seek I not thus a way forbidden,
I, vessel made of earthen clay,
Who search for something strange and hidden
And yearn to scoop a drop away?



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