| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 5. The Black Vulture |
| | | By George Sterling |
| |
| |
| ALOOF upon the day’s immeasured dome, | |
| He holds unshared the silence of the sky. | |
| Far down his bleak, relentless eyes descry | |
| The eagle’s empire and the falcon’s home— | |
| Far down, the galleons of sunset roam; | 5 |
| His hazards on the sea of morning lie; | |
| Serene, he hears the broken tempest sigh | |
| Where cold sierras gleam like scattered foam. | |
| |
| And least of all he holds the human swarm— | |
| Unwitting now that envious men prepare | 10 |
| To make their dream and its fulfillment one, | |
| When, poised above the caldrons of the storm, | |
| Their hearts, contemptuous of death, shall dare | |
| His roads between the thunder and the sun. | |
| |
|
|
|
