ON the ivied house the starling Clapped his beak as we went by, And the chaffinch, homeward flying, Slipped in loops across the sky. Here and there a hermit poplar Musing on his stature stood, And we heard, advancing farther, Unseen wings within the wood. What a lesson is the forest For a brotherhood of life! What a green rebuke for nations Ever ready for the strife! Here within a space no longer Than a blackbird floats unfanned, Oak and elm and beech, the chieftains, Spire in peace above the land. Here we heard the windy shepherd Making cloudy lambkins pass Over Nature's pupils dreaming With their mistress in the grass. As we lay a stockdove fluttered, Settled on a branch in view, And we saw her comely plumpness Lined against the evening blue, Till she spied beneath her pouting Shapes that are the pulse of flight— Thought us enemies, and melted Very softly out of sight Westward, where a wall of blackness Stood before a yellow lake, While along the inky summit Crawled a great and golden snake! Here we heard the whitethroats homing From the rambles of the day; Heard the prophet thrush proclaiming Divination from his spray. Bringing back his song from spaces Where the world is faintly seen, To his field the lark descended, Seeking slumber in the green. Multitudes of gossip creatures Darkness gathered to repose; But we drank of Nature's silence Till the huntress moon arose— Till Diana, lap and bosom Finely full of stolen light, By her beautiful unbending Made a lover of the night. |