Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79.
The Flamingo
By Sarah D. ClarkT
From the land all withered and parched with drouth.
Blown from a burning prairie land.
In the samphire beds, and the cool dank grass.
Red as the sun in the firmament,
At the deadly eye of the cormorant.
From the height of his vaulted eyry peers.
Where the blue-eyed gentian lifts its head;
On the lily’s breast, as he floated by;
From his wing a scarlet feather fell.
With stout heart fearing nor wind nor gales.
Like a fleet and royal messenger sent,
Never on map or chart laid down.
For the dreary streets were of muffled snow.
And the footsteps numbered were faint and few.
Were bound, snow-locked, without mast or oar.
With the tropic bird on the lonely deck.
And his royal plumage blanched snow-white.
And again on fluttering wings went forth,
Forever hid by a snowy veil.
And gazed on a mighty mountain crest,
Reaching far up to the polar sky,
His secret none shall ever know.
And tracked the path of a continent.
Has passed beyond to an unknown land.
Frozen and stark the sentinel waits
And the pathway cleared to the great Northwest!