Written At Smarkan

Translucent loom the rocky crests
Of hills with soft green sloping breasts.
A bird with aching sweetness sings
Before he spreads his russet wings
To fly upon some nameless quest,
Or find content in some far nest.
And when this day succumbs to night,
I, too, shall rouse myself for flight
To sail upon some phantom sea,
And haunt the shores of mystery.

^__Gertrude Kirtland

Contemporary Kansas Poetry
Helen Rhoda Hoopes
page 73
(Kansas City: Joseph D. Havens Company. 1927)