88 BIRDS IN LONDON 



vision of some far time, after this London, after 

 the dust of all her people, from park ranger to 

 bowed-down withered old woman gathering 

 rotten rain-sodden sticks for fuel, had been 

 blown about by the winds of many centuries 

 a vision of old trees growing again on this 

 desecrated spot as in past ages, oak and elm, 

 and beech and chestnut, the happy, green homes 

 of squirrel and bird and bee. It was very 

 sweet to see London beautified and made healthy 

 at last ! And I thought, quoting Hafiz, that 

 after a thousand years my bones would be filled 

 with gladness, and, uprising, dance in the 

 sepulchre. 



