160 WITH EARTH AND SKY 
and do not sulk, but when dinner is served give 
the dinner-call and the beloveds come and are 
seated with much laughter on the blessed spongy 
ground and are served by the man servant and 
they criticize with feminine generosity of crit- 
icism, but do not forget to kiss the cook; and 
that soothes my wounded feelings. And when 
they brag on the cooking I am a happy galley 
slave though bound to the oar. 
This dinner business and the kissing business 
ended and the chef discharged and the gondolier 
retained, we all make glad to lie down in the 
windy shadow of the beech trees with shadow 
all but impenetrable even to the stabbing sun- 
beams of this golden day. Just to sit or sprawl 
when the wind comes unwearied and has made 
mad journey over a wide water and up a wind- 
ing river and over a meadow sown to starred 
flowers and pine trees and grasses which have 
the everlasting smell of the dampness of the 
world, and the half weariness bordering on sleep 
which characterizes the rushes and the reeds 
and the true river meadow, just to wait and 
laugh out loud without explanation of the laughter, 
and see things too deep for words but not so 
deep as the thoughts they compel, and to stay 
bareheaded and let the wind work its will in 
dishevelment, and rest the heart with the unknow- 
ing comfort of the rush of joy from the world 
so good to be in and so packed to its center with 
radiancy and welcoming. 
