NATURE'S CALM 



" The mountain brows, the rocks, the peaks are 

 sleeping, 



Uplands and gorges hush ! 

 The* thousand moorland things are stillness 

 keeping; 



The beasts under each bush 

 Crouch, and the hived bees 

 Rest in their honeyed ease; 

 In the purple sea fish lie as they were dead, 

 And each bird folds his wing over his head." 

 Alcman (Edwin Arnold's trans.). 



The end of day. Sounds soften as 

 the wind, their messenger, dies away; 

 heat lessens as the sun gathers up 

 his shafts before disappearing; dew 

 glistens as the coolness holds down the 

 moisture; then a twilight interlude of 

 shadows. Shadows that roll ground- 

 ward, cloud shadows drifting through 



