ONE EVENING

The damp, sweet smell of the earth after rain, A golden rift in the sky, The deepening twilight, the purple plain, And you and I.

The strange, still hush of the slumbering world, The mist in the wood close by, A deer that nibbles a leaf dew-pearled, And you and I.

The falling rain has left tremulous lakes Where the shattered branches lie; The storm has bowed the tree till it breaks, And you and I!

Yet the green earth smiles through the tears she wept; With one long, rapturous sigh The Noon in the arms of Night has crept, And you and I?