Songs of the Fields 



it (lid on tlie l)ed of ooze; for in tlie firm clay soil 



of fields and nieadoAws only a narroAv channel is 



cut, and so Avitli forces i'ene\\ed by concentration Where 



it comes slii)]jino- across Bone's Avoods pastui'c. *'^'^*^'^^^^ 



. . . Mourns 



'riirou^'h his fields, ah\ays tree-sluuled, it fio^^•s, 



and then crosses fai'ins \\hose 0A\'nei's I am glad 

 I do not know; for here my creek is robl)ed of 

 shelter, and lei't to spread ineffectually, and to 

 evaporate in fetid, unwholesome pools. The trees 

 are cut. and grazing stock by wading e\'erywhere 

 trample down the banks and fill tlie channel with 

 soil; thus Avantonly wasting Avater that in a few 

 more years these land-owners A\'ill be digging- 

 ditches to reclaim. AVith broken heart it is dissi- 

 pated by tlie sun, and a dry sob of agony is the 

 only note raised as it painfully oozes across tliis 

 land and beneath the road bridge. 



Here the ci'cek reaches deep-shaded channel 

 once more, and bursts into song crossing xVrman- 

 trout's pasture; for it is partly sliaded, thougli 

 many large trees on the [tanks are being felled. 

 A ha])py song is smig on the Rayn farm, where 

 it is sheltered ])y trees and a big hill. In full 

 force it crosses the road again, slides below the 

 railroad bridge, rounds the hill, chanting a requiem 

 to the little city of the dead on its banks, flows 

 through tlie upper corner of the old T^imberlost 

 s^vamp, hin-ries across the road once more, and so 

 comes singing into Schaffer's meadow. 



301 



