How bright on the blue
Is a kite when it’s new!

With a dive and a dip
It snaps its tail

Then soars like a ship
With only a sail

As over tides
Of wind it rides,

Climbs to the crest
Of a gust and pulls,

Then seems to rest
As wind falls.

When string goes slack
You wind it back

And run until
A new breeze blows

And its wings fill
And up it goes!

How bright on the blue
Is a kite when it’s new!

But a raggeder thing
You never will see

When it flaps on a string
In the top of a tree.

Summary

The poet describes a new kite. It looks bright and beautiful in the blue sky. First the kite appears to dive and take a turn with its tail and then soars high up just like a ship that rides and dives the crests and troughs of the waves.

When the string becomes loose, you wind it back. Then again a new wind fills its wings and the kite again soars high into the skies. How bright and beautiful this new kite looks but its beauty is marred and it gets tattered and torn if its string gets caught in the branch of a tree.