SEA-GULLS AT FRESH POND 347 
In solemn interchange of joy or pain. 
I may not hold thee back. Though skies be 
dark, 
Put forth upon the seas, O priceless bark ! 
SEA-GULLS AT FRESH POND 
O Lake of boyish dreams! I linger round 
Thy calm, clear waters and thine altered 
shores 
Till thought brings back the plash of child- 
hood’s oars, — 
Long hid in memory’s depths, a vanished 
sound. 
Alone unchanged, the sea-birds yet are found 
Far floating on thy wave by threes and 
fours, 
Or grouped in hundreds, while a white gull 
soars, 
Safe, beyond gunshot of the hostile ground. 
I am no nearer to those joyous birds 
Than when, long since, I watched them as a 
child ; ; 
Nor am I nearer to that flock more wild, 
Most shy and vague of all elusive things, 
My unattainable thoughts, unreached by 
words. 
I see the flight, but never touch the wings. 
