1601. Silkweed by Philip Henry Savage. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

1601. Silkweed

By Philip Henry Savage


LIGHTER than dandelion down,
Or feathers from the white moth’s wing,
Out of the gates of bramble-town
The silkweed goes a-gypsying.

Too fair to fly in autumn’s rout,	5
All winter in the sheath it lay;
But now, when spring is pushing out,
The zephyr calls, “Away! away!”

Through mullein, bramble, brake, and fern,
Up from their cradle-spring they fly,	10
Beyond the boundary wall to turn
And voyage through the friendly sky.

Softly, as if instinct with thought,
They float and drift, delay and turn;
And one avoids and one is caught	15
Between an oak-leaf and a fern.

And one holds by an airy line
The spider drew from tree to tree;
And if the web is light and fine,
’T is not so light and fine as he!	20

And one goes questing up the wall
As if to find a door; and then,
As if he did not care at all,
Goes over, and adown the glen.

And all in airiest fashion fare	25
Adventuring, as if, indeed,
’T were not so grave a thing to bear
The burden of a seed!