Huge and seeming slow, the pelican
sails by. His steep historic visage is
a mark of antique pattern and design,
but earns derision, as unpretty things can.
So clown-character is given out as his,
and "laughable" is often his assign.

Yet such an antiquated shape and mien
grants queer grace and beauty also his:
as when he glides through air grown sweet as wine
with waning sun, suffusing feathers with a holy stain: