Foliage: Various Poems

THE BIRD-MAN

     Man is a bird:
       He rises on fine wings
     Into the Heaven's clear light;
       He flies away and sings—
     There's music in his flight.

     Man is a bird:
       In swiftest speed he burns,
     With twist and dive and leap;
       A bird whose sudden turns
     Can drive the frightened sheep.

     Man is a bird:
       Over the mountain high,
     Whose head is in the skies,
       Cut from its shoulder by
     A cloud—the bird-man flies.

     Man is a bird:
       Eagles from mountain crag
     Swooped down to prove his worth;

     Him down from Heaven to earth!