| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | A Japanese Vase Wrought in Metals | | By Marjorie Allen Seiffert |
| | From “Two Designs”
FIVE harsh black birds in shining bronze come crying | |
| Into a silver sky. | |
| Piercing and jubilant is the shape of their flying; | |
| Their beaks are pointed with delight, | |
| Curved sharply with desire. | 5 |
| The passionate direction of their flight, | |
| Clear and high, | |
| Stretches their bodies taut like humming wire. | |
| The cold wind blows into angry patterns the jet-bright | |
| Feathers of their wings; | 10 |
| Their claws curl loosely, safely, about nothingness— | |
| They clasp no things. | |
| Direction and desire they possess, | |
| By which in sharp, unswerving flight they hold | |
| Across an iron sea to the golden beach | 15 |
| Whereon lies carrion, their feast: a shore of gold | |
| That birds wrought on a vase can never reach. | | | | |
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