| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Eagle’s Song | | By Mary Austin |
| | From “High Places”
Said the Eagle:
WHEN my time came | |
| I was astonished | |
| To find that there was death; | |
| I felt cold sinking within me. | |
| |
| Alas, my home— | 5 |
| Shall I leave it? | |
| All-beholding mountains, | |
| From your snowy stations | |
| Shall I see my house no more? | |
| |
| North I went, | 10 |
| Leaning on the wind: | |
| Through the forest resounded | |
| The cry of the wounded doe. | |
| |
| East I went, | |
| Seeking | 15 |
| Where the white-hot dawn | |
| Treads on the trail of morning blueness: | |
| The wind brought me | |
| The smell of death in my nostrils. | |
| |
| South I went, | 20 |
| Looking | |
| For the place where there is no death: | |
| I heard singing, | |
| The sound of wailing for the dead. | |
| |
| West I went, | 25 |
| On the world-encompassing water: | |
| Death’s trail was before me. | |
| |
| People, O people, | |
| It must be that we shall leave this pleasant earth. | |
| Therefore let us make songs together, | 30 |
| Let us make a twine of songs. | |
| With them we shall bind the Spirit | |
| Fast to the middle heaven— | |
| There at least it shall roam no more. | |
| The white way of souls, | 35 |
| There shall be our home. | | | | |
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