The Wild Swans Pass

In the dead of the night You turned in your troubled sleep As you heard the wild swans pass; And then you slept again.

You slept-- While a new world swam beneath That army of eager wings, While plainland and slough and lake Lay wide to those outstretched throats, While the far lone Lights allured That phalanx of passionate breasts.

And I who had loved you more Than a homing bird loves flight,-- I watched with an ache for freedom, I rose with a need for life, Knowing that love had passed Into its unknown North!