Morning Poetry: Something Told the Wild Geese

A poem in the public domain by Rachel Field

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Something told the wild geese

It was time to go,

Though the fields lay golden

Something whispered, "snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,

Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

Something cautioned, "frost."

All the sagging orchards

Steamed with amber spice

But each wild breast stiffened

At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese

It was time to fly,

Summer sun was on their wings,

Winter in their cry.

Rachel Field (1894 - 1942) - author, poet, and playwright

For more information about this early American woman author, check out this short article by her biographer Robin Clifford Wood. And here is an extended article about Field that includes list of her major publications by Taylor Jasmine. Both of these articles are found within the website Literary Ladies Guide: Inspiration for Readers and Writers from Classic Women Authors. It's lovely.

The cover painting is "Brittany Goose Girl" by Clarence Gagnon (1908), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.