Smoke
by Henry David Thoreau

American essayist and poet. He is best known for Walden, or Life in the woods (1854). He also wrote A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River (1849) and poems and various essays including Civil Disobedience (1849). Thoreau is renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism and as an advocate of civil liberties.

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Smoke
by Henry David Thoreau

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

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Smoke by Henry David Thoreau