The Flight

1 
When the grey geese heard the Fool’s tread
   Too near to where they lay,
 They lifted neither voice nor head,
  But took themselves away. 
2
No water broke, no pinion whirred-
  There went no warning call.
 The steely, sheltering rushes stirred
  A little—that was all. 
3
Only the osiers understood,
  And the drowned meadows spied
 What else than wreckage of a flood
  Stole outward on that tide. 
4
But the far beaches saw their ranks
   Gather and greet and grow
 By myriads on the naked banks
  Watching their sign to go; 
5
Till, with a roar of wings that churned
  The shivering shoals to foam,
 Flight after flight took air and turned
  To find a safer home; 
6
And, far below their steadfast wedge,
  They heard (and hastened on)
 Men thresh and clamour through the sedge
  Aghast that they were gone! 
7
And, when men prayed them come anew 
  And nest where they were bred,
“Nay, fools foretell what knaves will do,"
  Was all the grey geese said.

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