such a way. The moon gets tangled in it, A distant steeple seems to bark From its belfry to the sky. Something that no one ever loved, Is buried here: Some grey shape of deadly hate, Crawls on the back fence just beyond. Now I remember—once I went Out by night too near this oak, And a red cat suddenly leapt From the dark and clawed my face. THE OLD BARN Owls flap in this ancient barn With rotted doors. Rats squeak in this ancient barn Over the floors. Owls flap warily every night, Rats' eyes gleam in the cold moonlight. There is something hidden in this barn, With barred doors. Something the owls have torn, And the rats scurry with over the floors. THE WELL The well is not used now, Its waters are tainted. I remember there was once a man went down To clean it. He found it very cold and deep, With a queer niche in one of its sides, From which he hauled forth buckets of bricks and dirt. THE TREES When the moonlight strikes the tree-tops, The trees are not the same. I know they are not the same, Because there is one tree that is missing, And it stood so long by another, That the other, feeling lonely, Now is slowly dying too. When the moonlight strikes the tree-tops That dead tree comes back; Like a great blue sphere of smoke Half buoyed, half ravelling on the grass, Rustling through frayed Branches, Something eerily cheeping through it, Something creeping through its shade. VISION You who flutter and quiver An instant Just beyond my apprehension; Lady, I will find the white orchid for you, If you will but give me One smile between those wayward drifts of hair. I will break the wild berries that loop themselves over the marsh-pool, For your sake, And the long green canes that swish against each other, I will break, to set in your hands. For there is no wonder like to you, You who flutter and quiver An instant Just beyond my apprehension. EPILOGUE Why it was I do not know, But last night I vividly dreamed Though a thousand miles away, That I had come back to you. The windows were the same: The bed, the furniture the same, Only there was a door where empty wall had always been, And someone was trying to enter it. I heard the grate of a key, An unknown voice apologetically Excused its intrusion just as I awoke. But I wonder after all If there was some secret entranceway, Some ghost I overlooked, when I was there. 

SECTION II

SYMPHONIES

 BLUE SYMPHONY I The darkness rolls upward. The thick darkness carries with it Rain and a ravel of cloud. The sun comes forth upon earth. Palely the dawn Leaves me facing timidly Old gardens sunken: And in the gardens is water. Sombre 

 Prev. P 13/30 next