THE NIGHT-WASHERS MR. MOON HEM AND HAW ACCIDENT IN ART IN A GARDEN AT THE END OF THE DAY And ever with the vanguard The vagrant singers come The gamins of the city Who dance before the drum JONGLEURS. What is the stir in the street? Hurry of feet! And after, A sound as of pipes and of tabers! Men of the conflicts and labors, Struggling and shifting and shoving, Pushing and pounding your neighbors, Fighting for leeway for laughter, Toiling for leisure for loving! Hark, through the window and up to the rafter, Madder and merrier, Deeper and verier, Sweeter, contrarier, Dafter and dafter, A song arises,-- A thrill, an intrusion, A reel, an illusion, A rapture, a crisis Of bells in the air! Ay, up from your work and look out of the window! "Who are the newcomers, Arab or Hindoo? Persians, or Japs, or the children of Isis?" --Guesses, surmises-- Forth with you, fare Down in the street to draw nearer and stare! Come from your palaces, come from your hovels! Lay down your ledgers, your picks and your shovels, Your trowels and bricks, Hammers and nails, Scythes and flails, Bargains and sales, And the trader's tricks, Deals, overreachings, Worries and griefs, Teachings and preachings, Boluses, briefs, Writs and attachments, Quarterings, hatchments, Clans and cognomens, Comments and scholia, (World's melancholia)-- Cast them aside, and good riddance to rubbish! Here at the street-corner, hearken, a strain, Rough and off-hand and a bit rub-a-dub-ish, Gives us a taste of the life we'd attain. Who are they, what are they, whence have they come to us? Where will they go.when their singing is done? What is the garb they wear, tattered and sumptuous, Faded with days and superb in the sun? What are they singing of? Hush! ... There's a ringing of Delicate chimes; And the blush Of a veiled bride morning Beats in the rhymes. Listen! Out of the