1. His blackness flies and flashes underneath
The lightning of the cloud intensely bright

2. Wearing a cloak that drapes his shoulders
Pitch black and coarse from spinning

3. And a little white ankle-ring
Scarce spanning his slender shins

4. The burning of his wings as though he swoops
A scion of Abyssinia, broad of sole

5. Setting out well before night’s end
Or leaving at dawn, in the dripping dew

6. The beasts like swaying hilltops as though their backs
Were cotton sold, well-burnished smooth

7. Neck swiveling, head held high
Lofty, though he may stand upon a dune

8. And his herder, when he shows him off, declares
“This here’s a boulder, firmly set!”