On silver sand where ripples curled <br />I counted sea-gulls seven; <br />Shy, secret screened from all the world, <br />And innocent as heaven. <br />They did not of my nearness know, <br />For dawn was barely bright, <br />And they were still, like spots of snow <br />In that pale, pearly light. <br /> <br />Then one went forth unto the sea <br />That rippled up in gold, <br />And there were rubies flashing free <br />From out its wing-unfold; <br />It ducked and dived in pretty play, <br />The while the other six <br />So gravely sat it seemed that they <br />Were marvelled by its tricks. <br /> <br />Then with a sudden flurry each <br />Down-rushed to join its mate, <br />And in a flash that sickle beach <br />With rapture was elate. <br />With joy they pranked till everyone <br />Was diamonded with spray, <br />Then flicked with flame to greet the sun <br />They rose and winged away. <br /> <br />But with their going, oh, the surge <br />Of loss they left in me! <br />For in my heart was born the urge, <br />The passion to be free. <br />And where each dawn with terror brings <br />Some tale of bale and blight, <br />Who would not envy silver wings, <br />The sea-gull in its flight! <br /> <br />Let me not know the soils of woe <br />That chain this stricken earth; <br />Let me forget the fear and fret <br />That bind men from their birth; <br />Let me be the one with wind and sun, <br />With earth and sky and sea. . . . <br />Oh, let me teach in living speech <br />God's glory - Liberty.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/flight-4/
