The Message
I.
I dreamed I lived beside the talking sea,
And great white birds were neighborly to me;
They brought me tidings strange from many lands,
And ate the broken limpets from my hands.
II.
I tied a message to an osprey's breast,
And sent him o'er the foam upon my quest,
To find my love where southern billows beat,
And drop the folded question at his feet.
III.
I watched beside the sea for many days,
And strained my sight across the briny ways;
I saw his arrow-wings that shot the blue,
And to my arms the errant osprey flew:
IV.
Straight to my arms, as to a place of rest;
A drop of blood was on his snowy breast;
Upon his snowy breast the stain was red,
And I was answered, and the bird was dead.
|