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

By ErnestMcGaffey

1435 “Mark”

THE HEAVY mists have crept away,

Heavily swims the sun,

And dim in mystic cloudlands gray

The stars fade one by one;

Out of the dusk enveloping

Come marsh and sky and tree,

Where erst has rested night’s dark ring

Over the Kankakee.

“Mark right!” Afar and faint outlined

A flock of mallards fly,

We crouch within the reedy blind

Instantly at the cry.

“Mark left!” We peer through wild rice-blades,

And distant shadows see,

A wedge-shaped phalanx from the shades

Of far-off Kankakee.

“Mark overhead!” A canvas-back!

“Mark! mark!” A bunch of teal!

And swiftly on each flying track

Follows the shotgun’s peal;

Thus rings that call, till twilight’s tide

Rolls in like some gray sea,

And whippoorwills complain beside

The lonely Kankakee.