WILD PASTURES 



ment on the sandy stretches left bare by 

 this yearly receding tide, climbing along 

 the rocky shore and filling every crevice, 

 lifting its yellow cups to the glare of the 

 brazen sky and distilling subtle perfume 

 to the antennae of the little low-flying 

 insects that are its friends. Yet if its 

 common name means little, that given it 

 by the botanists fits. Gratiola aurea may 

 well mean a plant that is golden grace 

 or a golden benediction, as you choose 

 to take the Latin. 



The day before, then, I had no heart 

 for the upland pasture, but Jotham's 

 reading of the quail had been the right 

 one, for yesterday the brazen look was 

 all blown out of the sky by the south 

 wind. It did not leave it clear blue, for 

 that would have meant cooler and still 

 dry, but put into it a pallor that seemed 

 to well up from all the horizon round. 

 224 



