Out from the aerie beloved we flew,
Now through the white, and now through the blue;
Glided beneath us hilltop and glen,
River and meadow and dwellings of men!
We flew, we flew through the regions of light
And the wind's wild paean followed our flight!
Free of the world, we flew, we flew —
Bound to each other alone,— we two!
To the shivering migrant we called “Adieu!”
Mid the frost-sweet weather, we flew, we flew!
Till, hark from below! the hiss of lead,
And one of us dropped, as a plume is shed!
Around and around I flew, I flew,
Wheeling my flight, ever closer I drew!
There, on the earth, my beloved lay,
With a crimson stain on her breast-plumes gray!
And creatures of earth we had scorned before,
Now measured the wings that would lift no more:
And I stooped, as an arrow is shot from the height,
And sought to bear her away in my flight flight —
Away to our aerie far to seek!
Well did I fight with talons and beak;
But the craven foe, in their numbers and might,
Bore her in triumph out of my sight!