The Eaves Swallow 25 
Then the swallows from the mud huts 
Came to hover in the barnyards, 
Hover round the strutting roosters, 
Hover near the dreaming cattle ; 
Feathers plucked they from the pullets, 
Flies they caught above the heifers. 
Mud they found beside the dug-outs, 
Which contained the bright spring water 
Led there from the upland ledges. 
Rising high above the barnyards, 
Like the cliffs above the Saco, 
Were the weathered walls and shingles 
Of the farmer's barns and lean-tos ; 
Gray like rock, but warmer, drier, 
Full of cracks and facing four ways, 
Better surely for the mud huts 
Than the dewy cliffs of Paugus. 
So the builders of the mud huts 
Left the meadows of the Saco, 
Left the glistening cliffs of Paugus, 
Came and dwelt beside the white man, 
Built their huts beneath his barn eaves. 
