140 MIDSUMMER NIGHT 

 Antares shone in the south ; above were 

 Lyra, Aquila, Northern Crown, and all 

 the heavenly concourse: Mars glowed red, 

 with Spica Virginis swung low in adoration 

 and sending its wan green fires to the watcher. 

 Slowly the afterglow drenched in the gray 

 waters, an owl quavered in loneliness as it 

 fanned over the churchyard ; a jackdaw 

 answered sharply, querulously, and night 

 had come to the earth. 



A pale golden vapour over the Exmoor 

 hills, and the moon rose, like the head of a 

 yellow moth creeping from its case. It swam 

 into view over the dark hills, and I looked 

 into its face, while it shrank into a silver disk. 

 The sky became lavender-coloured, the 

 moon dust falling with the dew and forming 

 a gauzy veil above. The boom of the waves 

 pounding the distant headland was borne on 

 the wind burthened with foam fragrance 

 and the scent of the sweet clover fields 

 beyond the village. It stirred the green 

 corn, came fitfully, then sighed to silence. 



