Explore "Sea-Gulls of Manhattan (of Birds and Flowers)" by Henry Van Dyke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Children of the elemental mother, / Born upon some lonely island shore / Where the wrinkled ripples run and whisper, / Where the crested billows plunge and roar; / Long-winged, tireless roamers and adventurers, / Fearless breasters of the wind and sea, / In the far-off solitary places / I have seen you floating wild and free!
Here the high-built cities rise around you; / Here the cliffs that tower east and west, / Honeycombed with human habitations, / Have no hiding for the sea-bird's nest: / Here the river flows begrimed and troubled; / Here the hurrying, panting vessels fume, / Restless, up and down the watery highway, / While a thousand chimneys vomit gloom.