Swallows on the river
Cloudy and wet
and wind due east
air without palpable fog
but very heavy
with moisture
a welcome change
Forenoon
crossing the Delaware
I noticed unusual numbers
of swallows in flight
circling
darting
graceful beyond description
close to the water
Thick they flew around the bows
of the ferry-boat
as she lay tied in her slip
and as we went out
I watched beyond the pier-heads
and across the broad stream
their swift-winding
loop-ribands of motion
down close to it
cutting and intersecting
Though I’d seen swallows
all my life
it seemed as though
I never before realized
their peculiar beauty and character
in the landscape
Walt Whitman
Adapted from Specimen Days (1882) by John Lyons