Little we dreamed, though that high air

Quickens imagination's flight,

What monstrous bird and very rare

Would in these parts some day alight;

How, like a roc of Arab fable,

A Zepp en route from London town,

Trying to find its German stable,

Would here come blundering down.

The swallows—you remember? yes?—

Northward, just then, were heading straight;