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EAGLES
GIBERT'S BATTLE FOR THE AIR
It rose, and swam into the sky—
The man-made bird;
And the great Eagle saw it fly—
Saw it, and heard
The whirring of its plumeless wings,—
The bird that mounts and soars, but never sings!
The falcon-eyes that face the sun
Blinked on the flight
Of the dread creature that had won
The unwelcome right
To leave its native earth, and dare
Intrude upon the monarch of the Air!
As moved the monoplane, the man,
Strange soul of it,
Sailing the sea cerulean,
The whole of it
Seemed his; ay, subject to his sway.
Then he beheld—an Eagle in his way!
Awed, each upon the other gazed
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