A Pleasing Illusion

I saw a pleasing sight this spring,
Seem’d like a hundred ducks on wing;
Fluttering o’er the crystal water,
I felt like rippling o’er with laughter.

When the truth it did awaken,
In silver ducks I was mistaken;
It was the sunbeam’s merry dancing,
That on the water I saw glancing.

Rejoicing that from bonds of ice
They were free these pearls of price;
Though banks were bound with fringe of snow,
Which gave more lustre to the glow.

So ’tis no wonder that we sing
About the glories of the spring;
Each day fresh beauties will be seen,
When fields are cover’d o’er with green.

Adieu to Winter brings no grief,
For we do long for bud and leaf;
Which are brought out by sunny showers,
And covers landscape with the flowers.

The sun is glorious orb of day,
Refulgent is each sparkling ray;
The moon she is the Queen of Night,
Enthroned among the stars so bright.

Where this text comes from

First published in Poems of James McIntyre (1889). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/james-mcintyre_poetry, poetry.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (3)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L24.

Cite this poem

James McIntyre (1828?–1906). “A Pleasing Illusion.” First published in Poems of James McIntyre (1889). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/james-mcintyre/a-pleasing-illusion/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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