Shapes and Shadows — Since Then

SINCE THEN.

I found myself among the trees What time the reapers ceased to reap;

And in the berry blooms the bees Huddled wee heads and went to sleep, Rocked by the silence and the breeze.

I saw the red fox leave his lair, A shaggy shadow, on the knoll;

And, tunnelling his thoroughfare Beneath the loam, I watched the mole-- Stealth's own self could not take more care.

I heard the death-moth tick and stir, Slow-honeycombing through the bark;

I heard the crickets' drowsy chirr, And one lone beetle burr the dark-- The sleeping woodland seemed to purr.

And then the moon rose; and a white Low bough of blossoms--grown almost Where, ere you died, 'twas our delight To tryst,--dear heart!

--I thought your ghost....

The wood is haunted since that night.