C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Wild Geese

A FAR, strange sound through the night,

A dountless and resolute cry,

Clear in the tempest’s despite,

Ringing so wild and so high!

Darkness and tumult and dread,

Rain and the battling of gales,

Yet cleaving the storm overhead,

The wedge of the wild geese sails:

Pushing their perilous way,

Buffeted, beaten, and vexed;

Steadfast by night and by day,

Weary, but never perplexed;

Sure that the land of their hope

Waits beyond tempest and dread,

Sure that the dark where they grope

Shall glow with the morning red!

Clangor that pierces the storm

Dropped from the gloom of the sky!

I sit by my hearth-fire warm

And thrill to that purposeful cry.

Strong as a challenge sent out,

Rousing the timorous heart

To battle with fear and with doubt,

Courageously bearing its part.

O birds in the wild, wild sky!

Would I could so follow God’s way

Through darkness, unquestioning why,

With only one thought—to obey!