Glimpses of the Miracle

Around, around in endless round,
A shadow without living source
Flitted down from cloud to ground,
The shadow of a flying horse.

And for one moment, that I saw,
When up I glanced in dreaming wonder.
By beauty's and by romance's law-
Pegasus, child of the thunder.

Then he was a flapping crow,
The white feathers shed for dark.
But I saw him as white as snow,
And I knew in him miracle's spark.

Stepping through the forest's bells,
Mystical mirror of the morning born,
The flower of waterfalls and fells,
The mystery of a unicorn.

And for one moment, I saw there,
Where I looked with silent eyes,
Clad in dreams, in light and air-
The unicorn, pale and wonder-wise.

Then he was a striding deer,
Turned for one moment gleaming white
By a sunbeam. But I still hold dear
The moment I saw miracle light.

Wild in the streaming sea,
Curving amid the leaping foam's beck,
Old as time and racing memory,
The twine of a sea serpent's neck.

And for one moment, I saw him,
Staring with eyes that saw the fair,
Saw the jewel amid the crystal spin-
The sea snake with sea-mantled hair.

Then he was a leaping dolphin,
Bent and refracted by the sun
Into something I saw secrets within.
But I saw the miracle flash and run.

Magnificent in mountains' story,
Perched, the lord of solitary things,
Lord of fire and song and glory,
The gold-green gleam of dragon's wings.

For one moment, I saw it all,
Stared with eyes, with burning gaze,
At the one who makes all others fall-
The drake who ruled ancient days.

And this time, he could not be broken,
Could not be reduced or made rotten.
He returned what cannot be spoken,
And I know the miracle was never forgotten.