A simple thing, yet chancing as it did, When life was bright with its illusive dreams, A pledge and promise seemed beneath it hid; The ocean lay before me, tinged with beams That lingering draped the west, a wavering stir, And at my feet down fell a worn, gray quill; An eagle, high above the darkling fir, With steady flight, seemed there to take his fill Of that pure ether breathed by him alone. O noble bird! why didst thou loose for me Thy eagle plume? still unessayed, unknown Must be that pathway fearless winged by thee; I ask it not, no lofty flight be mine, I would not soar like thee, in loneliness to pine! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I PAY MY DEBT FOR LAFAYETTE AND ROCHAMBEAU' by EDGAR LEE MASTERS OCTAVES: 8 by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ACCOMPLISHED FACTS by CARL SANDBURG OLD OSAWATOMIE by CARL SANDBURG ON AN UNFINISHED STATUE BY MICHAEL ANGELO by GEORGE SANTAYANA |