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.