Some laborer found one faded and stone-cold
And saving that its weight suggested gold
And tugged it from his first too certain hold
He noticed nothing in it to remark
He was not used to handling stars thrown dark
And lifeless from an interrupted arc
He did not recognize in that smooth coal
The one thing palpable besides the soul
To penetrate the air in which we roll
He did not see how like a flying thing
It brooded ant eggs, and had one large wing
One not so large for flying in a ring
And a long Bird of Paradise's tail
(Though these when not in use to fly and trail
It drew back in its body like a snail);
Nor know that be might move it from the spot—

 Family: Paradisaeidae, Order: Passeriformes
A Star in a Stone-Boat