SLOUGH CREEK MEADOW BROOK 47 



looking waste without these plants. They enliven 

 the flat brown surface. Without them the meadow 

 would be as dull as a page without question marks 

 or exclamation points. 



Meadow Brook is full of wonders. In its slug- 

 gish reaches polliwogs lurk in May. Yonder where 

 the ground is low, the main stream makes a turn, 

 leaving a considerable body of water at rest. There 

 under a willow tree the sedges and skunk-cabbage 

 and false hellebore crowd each other on the margin. 

 Below the surface delicate water plants afford safe 

 retreats for a million insects and shell-fish. In the 

 air above dragon-flies "knitting to and fro in the 

 sun" baffle the ambitious collector, or, intent on 

 their own affairs, heed him not. There the tragedy 

 and comedy of the world of "little people" is en- 

 acted with no regard for the onlookers. There, 

 too, breed in innocence and fear the naughty 

 mosquitoes which will later hunt out the most 

 philosophical of us and make life a burden. 



Flow on, Meadow Brook! I am not weary of 

 your companionship. No matter what iniquitous 

 deeds are done under cover of your glassy surface, 

 let me sit by your side and hear your voice. Let 

 me but absorb your cheerfulness and share in your 

 placidity and I'll know how better to understand 

 your world and mine. 



