SOUTH RAIN 



deep chill had faltered and died, leaving 

 its temperature behind it over all the fields 

 and forest. The air stung and the ground 

 rang like tempered steel beneath the foot, 

 yet you had but to listen or breathe deep 

 to know what was coming. The stroke 

 of twelve from the distant steeple brought 

 a resonance of romance along the clear 

 miles and the air left in your nostrils a 

 quality that never winter air had a right 

 to hold. To one who knows the temper 

 of the open field and the forest by day 

 and night the promise was unmistakable, 

 though so subtle as to be difficult to define. 

 Whether it was sound or smell or both 

 I knew then that a south wind was com- 

 ing, bearing on its balmy breath those 

 spicy, amorous odors of the tropics that 

 come to our frozen land only when spring 

 is on the way. The goddess scatters per- 

 fumes from her garments as she comes 

 7 



