Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Massachusetts Poets. 1922.

The Flight

O WILD heart, track the land’s perfume,

Beach-roses and moor-heather!

All fragrances of herb and bloom

Fail, out at sea, together.

O follow where aloft find room

Lark-song and eagle-feather!

All ecstasies of throat and plume

Melt, high on yon blue weather.

O leave on sky and ocean lost

The flight creation dareth;

Take wings of love, that mounts the most:

Find fame, that furthest fareth!

Thy flight, albeit amid her host

Thee, too, night star-like beareth,

Flying, thy breast on heaven’s coast,

The infinite outweareth.

“Dead o’er us roll celestial fires;

Mute stand Earth’s ancient beaches;

Old thoughts, old instincts, old desires,

The passing hour outreaches;

The soul creative never tires—

Evokes, adores, beseeches;

And that heart most the god inspires

Whom most its wildness teaches.

“For I will course through falling years

And stars and cities burning;

And I will march through dying cheers

Past empires unreturning;

Ever the world flame reappears

Where mankind power is earning,

The nations’ hopes, the people’s tears,

One with the wild heart yearning.