“Wolf, Wolf-stay-at-home,
Prowler, — scout,
Clanless and castaways,
And ailing with the drought,
Out from your hidings, — hither to the call;
Lift up your eyes to the high wind-fall!
Lift up your eyes from the poisoned spring;
Overhead, — overhead! The dragon Thing,
— What should it bring?
— Poising on the wing?”
“Wolf, Wolf, Old one, I saw it, even I.
Yesterday, yesterday, the Thing came by
Prowling at the outpost of the last lean wood,
By the gray waste ashes where the minster stood;
And out through the cloister where the belfry fronts
The market-place, and the town was once;
High, — high above the bright wide square
And the folk all flocking together, unaware,
The Thing-with-the-wings came there.
Brother Vulture saw it
And called me, as it passed:
‘Look and see, look and see, —
Men have wings at last.’
“By the eyeless belfry I saw it, overhead,
Poised like a hawk, — like a storm unshed.
Near the huddled doves there, from the shattered cote,
I watched too…. And it smote!
“Not a threat of thunder, — not an arm
(Josephine Preston Peabody)
More Poetry from Josephine Preston Peabody:
Josephine Preston Peabody Poems based on Topics: Man, Spring, Brothers- The Nightingale Unheard (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
- Cradle Song (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
- Myrrh-Bearers (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
- Harvest Moon (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
- Harvest Moon: 1916 (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
- Spinning in April (Josephine Preston Peabody Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, Spring Poems, Brothers PoemsBased on Keywords: outpost, castaways, prowler, hidings