320 When at last it leaves the land, and journeys To hunt the fields of its former home, As the fowl flieth many folk view it. It pleases in passing the people of earth, Who are seen assembling from south and north; 325 They come from the east, they crowd from the west, Faring from afar; the folk throng to see The grace that is given by God in his mercy To this fairest fowl, which at first received From gracious God the greatest of natures 330 And a beauty unrivalled in the race of birds. Then over the earth all men marvel At the freshness and fairness and make it famous in writings; With their hands they mould it on the hardest of marble, Which through time and tide tells the multitudes 335 Of the rarity of the flying one. Then the race of fowls On every hand enter in hosts, Surge in the paths, praise it in song, Magnify the stern-hearted one in mighty strains; And so the holy one they hem in in circles 340 As it flies amain. The Phoenix is in the midst Pressed by their hosts. The people behold And watch with wonder how the willing bands Worship the wanderer, one after the other, Mightily proclaim and magnify their King, 345 Their beloved Lord. They lead joyfully The noble one home; but now the wild one Flies away fast; no followers may come From the happy host, when their head takes wing Far from this land to find his home. V