A silhouette against the sky he stood upon a hill and gazed. I could not guess at what or why, or if his flesh were merely mazed, But there he stood erect and still, more like a tree than living man, As if some glory held his will or wonder kept his soul in ban. A line of wild geese drifted by across an autumn west that blazed. Had he been watching them until his spelled imagination ran Beyond to broad lakes green and chill that warned them, ere their flight began, And filled their throats with that wild cry, and made them, like himself, half dazed, A silhouette against the sky? O if some wide canopic eye wild bird and watcher both could scan And let his eagle fancy fly backward and forward, as it can, With life's and time's flight, would it fill with tears or laughter? Was earth crazed, Or simply testing her new skill, when, once upon a time, she raised Out of her dust with cosmic sigh one mightier than her favorite Pan A silhouette against the sky? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CREDO by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON POSSUM SONG (A WARNING) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ADELAIDE AND JOHN WILKES BOOTH by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE STIRRUP-CUP by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE BALLAD OF WILLIAM SYCAMORE (1790-1880) by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET |