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Wild Geese | Poem

Wild Geese
by Pai Ta-Shun
How oft against the sunset sky or moon
I watched that moving zig-zag of spread wings
In unforgotten autumns gone too soon,
    In unforgotten springs!

Creatures of desolation, far they fly
Above all lands bound by the curling foam;
In misty fens, wild moors and trackless sky
        These wild things have their home.

They know the tundra of Siberian coasts,
And tropic marshes by the Indian seas;
They know the clouds and night and starry hosts
        From Crux to Pleiades.

Dark flying rune against the western glow--
It tlls the sweep and loneliness of things,
Symbol of autumns vanished long ago,
        Symbol of coming springs!


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