Ballad

When the angels that were coming

over the sea became lost,

the birds waited for them

crying out desperately

in the bitter wind.

When the sailing-ships that were coming

over the sea became lost,

the birds waited for them,

then flew off in the bitter wind.

They flew to the thatched cottages

that sleep beside the coast;

and they said that the expected angels

were lost.

They flew to the church-towers

that sing in the breeze;

and they said that the expected ships

were lost.

And that night the strange children

saw the angels' wings

floating in the sky like ships;

they saw sails like wings

soaring towards the stars.

And muddling together the wings, the sails,

the ships and the angels,

these delicate children prayed

in white ignorance.