"FULLNESS AFTER DEARTH" 159 



over-shadow the tiny efforts of their off- 

 sprung life. Those docks have been there a 

 generation, and are still unwearied they 

 must have launched millions of seeds into 

 the light. 



The swallows are still singing, but the 

 chill nights are a sign to them. Yesterday 

 a young bird flew full-tilt into the wall of 

 a barn, and was picked up dead. It was 

 blind, and had been so since birth. How 

 had it existed till now ? I am inclined to 

 think that it had lost its parents, who 

 hitherto must have been shepherding it. 



Or perhaps it had seen the goddess Proser- 

 pine come back into the September days 

 of gold and royalest blue, and had paid the 

 penalty of vision. I burnt the tiny corpse 

 on a bramble-fire; its ashes went up in 

 smoke and spark towards the sun. 



