Golden-winged, silver-winged, <br />Winged with flashing flame, <br />Such a flight of birds I saw, <br />Birds without a name: <br />Singing songs in their own tongue <br />(Song of songs) they came. <br /> <br />One to another calling, <br />Each answering each, <br />One to another calling <br />In their proper speech: <br />High above my head they wheeled, <br />Far out of reach. <br /> <br />On wings of flame they went and came <br />With a cadenced clang, <br />Their silver wings tinkled, <br />Their golden wings rang, <br />The wind it whistled through their wings <br />Where in Heaven they sang. <br /> <br />They flashed and they darted <br />Awhile before mine eyes, <br />Mounting, mounting, mounting still <br />In haste to scale the skies— <br />Birds without a nest on earth, <br />Birds of Paradise. <br /> <br />Where the moon riseth not, <br />Nor sun seeks the west, <br />There to sing their glory <br />Which they sing at rest, <br />There to sing their love-song <br />When they sing their best: <br /> <br />Not in any garden <br />That mortal foot hath trod, <br />Not in any flowering tree <br />That springs from earthly sod, <br />But in the garden where they dwell, <br />The Paradise of God.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paradise-in-a-symbol/
