W. V~.

Behold ! a speck, high in the blazing blue,

Hung black — asingle speck above the waste ;

Hung poised an hour ; then dropped through
leagues of air,

Plumb as a stone ; and as it dropped they saw

Through leagues of high blue air, to north
and south,

To east and west, black specks that sprang
from space,

And then long sinuous lines of distant spots

Which flew converging — growing, as they
flew, .

To slanting streams and palpitating swarms;

Which flew converging out of all the heavens,

And blackened, as they flew, the sapphire
blaze,

And jarred the fiery hush with winnowing
wings ;

Which flew converging on a single point

Deep in the jungle waste, and, as they
swooped,

Paused in the last long slide with dangling
claws,

Then dropped like stone.

Thus knew the giant brood
That Cain was dead.

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