Light-Winged Smoke

ED Smoke,

Icarian bird,            Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,            Lark without song, and the messenger of dawn,            Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;            Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form            Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;            By night star-veiling, and by day            Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;            Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,            And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.