The Flight

 1930

When the grey geese heard the Fool's tread
 Too near to where they lay,
They lifted neither voice nor head,
 But took themselves away.


No water broke, no pinion whirred-
 There went no warning call.

The steely, sheltering rushes stirred
 A little--that was all.


Only the osiers understood,
 And the drowned meadows spied
What else than wreckage of a flood
 Stole outward on that tide.


But the far beaches saw their ranks
 Gather and greet and grow
By myriads on the naked banks
 Watching their sign to go;

Till, with a roar of wings that churned
 The shivering shoals to foam,
Flight after flight took air and turned -
 To find a safer home;

And far below their steadfast wedge,
 They heard (and hastened on)
Men thresh and clamour through the sedge
 Aghast that they were gone!

And, when men prayed them come anew 
 And nest where they were bred,
"Nay, fools foretell what knaves will do,"
 Was all the grey geese said.

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