Poems of Nature (Thoreau)/Smoke

by Henry David Thoreau

For other versions of this work, see Smoke (Thoreau).

SMOKE^[1]

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight;
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou, my incense, upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

1. This and the following poem appeared under the title of 'Orphics' in the Dial.