WINDS in the night pass fitfully, destroying Silence before them. Peace in the darkened woods Falls at the sound of scattered leaves, or the rustle Of long bent grasses—the ghostly fiddle-scraping, Dark and disturbed, of crisp and hardened sedge; The snap and crackle of twigs in piles of brush, As if a creature of shadow trod them under, Pressing them down among stiff crinkled leaves. Everywhere the winds move, humming in branches, Shuddering through the pliant stems of birch, Making the darkness alive with stranger creatures. As if these were the last winds in the world, And other nights held only a frozen stillness, Tense I must stand and listen, leaning against The chill of the night; almost unbreathing, I wait, Straining my ears for the distant rush of sound, For the gust of wind, and footsteps running after, Down through the darkness over the fallen leaves. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SACRAL DREAMS OF RAMON FERNANDEZ by JAMES GALVIN MATER AMABILIS by EMMA LAZARUS CITIES OF THE PLAIN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE BURIAL OF BOSTON CORBETT (ONE WARDEN TO ANOTHER) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |