Still suspense wherein the spirit of the world, 

 Waters, suddenly at rest, sleeps and dreams. 



The same ineffable peace broods over all 

 still waters : on the meres of Hereford, on the 

 fens of East Anglia, on lochs heavy with 

 mountain-shadow, on the long grey Hebridean 

 sheets where the call of the sea-wind or the 

 sea- wave is ever near. 



Truly there must be a hidden magic in 

 them, as old tales tell. I recall one where the 

 poets and dreamers of the world are called 

 'the children of pools.' The poet and 

 dreamer who so called them must have meant 

 by his metaphor those who look into the 

 hearts of men and into the dim eyes of Life, 

 troubled by the beauty and mystery of the 

 world, insatiable in longing for the ineffable 

 and the unattainable. So, long ago, even 

 'ornamental waters' may have been symbols 

 of the soul's hunger and thirst, emblems of the 

 perpetual silence and mystery of his fugitive 

 destiny ! 



Somewhere, I think it is in the Kalevala, 

 occurs the beautiful metaphor of still waters, 

 'the mirrors of the world.' Whoever the 

 ancient singer was who made the phrase, he 

 had in his heart love for still waters as well as 

 the poet's mind. The secret of their beauty 

 is in that image. It may be a secret within a 



262 



