Avian Nations

As over the reedy wetland where river Kaüstrios
her channel overflows gently, giving herself to the sea,
avian nations descend—geese, cranes,
swans of elegant neck, this way and that
they race, hop, flutter and fly, flapping
their wings, parading their feathers exultantly
for mates and mates-to-be, sociably quacking
and honking, mixing and milling about, and the wetlands
overflow with noise—just so the human nations
overflowed the ships and camps into the plain
of river Skamander, and under the men’s feet
and horses’ hooves the earth groaned. No flower
was seen in Skamander’s flowery meadow, packed
so closely they milled, in numbers unmeasured
like flowers and leaves of grass in the prime of year.

 [Iliad  2.459-468]