Thistledown

This might have been a place for sleep,     But, as from that small hollow there     Hosts of bright thistledown begin     Their dazzling journey through the air,     An idle man can only stare.     They grip their withered edge of stalk     In brief excitement for the wind;     They hold a breathless final talk,     And when their filmy cables part     One almost hears a little cry.     Some cling together while they wait,     And droop and gaze and hesitate,     But others leap along the sky,     Or circle round and calmly choose     The gust they know they ought to use;     While some in loving pairs will glide,     Or watch the others as they pass,     Or rest on flowers in the grass,     Or circle through the shining day     Like silvery butterflies at play.     Some catch themselves to every mound,     Then lingeringly and slowly move     As if they knew the precious ground     Were opening for their fertile love:     They almost try to dig, they need     So much to plant their thistle-seed.