It was one of those clear, sharp, mustless days
      That summer and man delight in.
Never had Heaven seemed quite so high,
Never had earth seemed quite so green,
Never had the world seemed quite so clean
Or sky so nigh.
      And I heard the Deity’s voice in

  The sun’s warm rays,
      And the white cloud’s intricate maze,
And the blue sky’s beautiful sheen.

      2

I looked to the heavens and saw him there,—
      A black speck downward drifting,
Nearer and nearer he steadily sailed,
Nearer and nearer he slid through space,
In an unending aerial race,
      This sailor who hailed
      From the Clime of the Clouds.—Ever shifting,

  On billows of air
      And the blue sky seemed never so fair,
And the rest of the world kept pace.

      3

On the white of his head the sun flashed bright;
      And he battled the wind with wide pinions,
Clearer and clearer the gale whistled loud,
Clearer and clearer he came into view,—
Bigger and blacker against the blue.
      Then a dragon of cloud
      Gathering all its minions
      Rushed to the fight,
      And swallowed him up in a bite;
And the sky lay empty clear through.

      4

Long I watched. And at last afar
      Caught sight of a speck in the vastness;
Ever smaller, ever decreasing,
Ever drifting, drifting awayInto the endless realms of day;
      Finally ceasing.
      So into Heaven’s vast fastness
      Vanished that bar
Of black, as a fluttering star
Goes out while still on its way.

      5

So I lost him. But I shall always see
      In my mind
The warm, yellow sun, and the ether free;
The vista’s sky, and the white cloud trailing,
      Trailing behind,—
And below the young earth’s summer-green arbors,
And on high the eagle, —sailing, sailing
      Into far skies and unknown harbors