Thou art clothed on with plumes, as with leaves,
Frond-like, and lighter than air;
Thy pinions are arrows in sheaves,
That carry thee none knoweth where.

Thou fliest, and none gives pursuit,
Thy realm both the earth and the sky;
Thou hast in thy bosom a flute,
The glance of a soul in thine eye.

Thou obeyest a sovereign power
That sets thee on Summer's track;
Thou knowest the tide and the hour
When to advance, or turn back.

Into the world thou art flung,
Thou herald of rapture and light.
Thou weavest a home for thy young-
And none but thyself hath the sleight.

Out of the world thou art gone,
And who shall say where is thy rest?
A rapture and light are withdrawn
Into some Heaven-side nest.

For who of my kind hath beheld
Where, stricken, were any of thine?
Hast thou not been, from of old-
A spirit unscathed and divine?

More verses by Edith Matilda Thomas