And why not "We?" Yours was the only voice That broke the lonely silence Of that night; Yours the great arms That bore me safely up Above the sea On that historic flight. Above the sound of all material things I heard the silvery beating Of your wings! Forged close together By one common dream We rode the mighty high-ways Of the air Catching, at last a faint, Far-distant gleam Of land—the coast of Ireland Waiting there! We could not stop, although the sight was fair, The sweet, still sight of land After our tireless flight. Paris lay just beyond, Our goal, at last in sight. We knew, oh little ship, That we had blazed the way Straight from our hanger To a well-loved land: Others would fly across the sea With ever-growing ease But we, oh ship of mine, We were the first of these! The pressing eager throngs must understand How you sang courage to my eager heart How, from the very start, You sailed forth like a spirit of the sky Silvery and sure, Winging so swiftly by; We did not hear the rushing of the sea, Strengthened, sustained By joyous ecstacy We claimed man's true dominion everywhere, Oh, silvery ship of mine, So steadfast and so fair! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO SPRING by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DORA WILLIAMS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ELEGY FOR AN ENEMY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET CONTRA MORTEM: THE TREES by HAYDEN CARRUTH ABOVE AND WITHIN by DAVID IGNATOW WE CAN'T WRITE OURSELVES INTO ETERNAL LIFE by DAVID IGNATOW DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 4. THE LOTTERY GIRL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |