^^ LAND & WATER August 2, 1917 
August Moon 
I 
(To F.. .S.) 
By J. C. Squire 
N the smooth grey heaven is poised the pale half moon 
And sheds on the wide grey river a broken reflection. 
Out from the low church-tower the boats are moored 
After the heat of ths day, and await the dark. 
And here, where the side of the road shelves into the river 
At the gap where barges load and horses drink. 
There are no horses. And the river is full. 
And the water stands by the shore and does not lap. 
And a barge lies up for the night this side of the island. 
'Ihc bargeman sits in the bows and smokes his pipe. 
And Ins wife by the cabin stirs. Behind me voices pass. 
Calm sky, calm river : and a few calm things reflected. 
And all as yet keep their colours : the island osiers, 
Ihe ash-white spots of umbelliferous flowers. 
And the yellow clay of its bank ; the barge's brown sails 
That are furled up the mast and then make a lean triangle 
To the end of the hoisted boom ; and the high dark slips 
Where they used to build vessels, and now build them no more. 
All in the river reflected in quiet colours. 
And beyond the river sweeps round in a bend, and is vast : 
A wide grey level under the motionless sky 
And the waxing moon, clean cut in the mole-grey sky. 
Silence ; time is suspended ; that the light fails 
One would not know were it not for the moon in the sky 
And the broken moon in the water, whose fractures tell 
Of slow broad ripples that otherwise do not show 
Maturing imperceptibly from a pale to a deeper gold 
A golden half moon in the sky, and broken gold in the water. 
In the water, tranquilly severing, joining, gold: 
1 hree or four little plates of gold on the river : 
A httle motion of gold between the dark images 
Of two tall posts that stand in the grey water. 
There are voices passing, a murmur of quiet voices 
A woman s laugh, and children going home 
A whispering couple, leaning over the railings 
And, somewhere, a little splash as a dog goes in. 
I have always known all this, it has always been 
Ihere is no change anywhere, nothing will ever change. 
I heard a story, a crazy and tiresome myth. 
Listen ! Behind the twilight a deep low sound 
Like the constant shutting of very distant doors. 
Doors that are letting people over there 
Out to some other place beyond the end of the sky. 
north and to the west, threatened bv German atfarl- fr^,^ ^ ^ x ^ 
the Mazurian lakes and from Silesia, she'^wouW be afoerLnv^s S'the a';„?'nr"^""^'";^ °^- °PP«rtunities for intrigues, 
mercy. She would be obliged to obey Germanv not onlv^n Til c • i 2 °/ making Kussia powerless, of exploiting 
her foreign policy, but even, to some exS^in her homo J^^J-^T^ ^"^ Political difficulties, of playing up herdiffcrent 
affairs. The leaders of the nation rea'Se hit Geriiany he o'taTnr '.°"' T^'* *'"^ °'^'^^' ^"^ °^ ^^us obtaining 
would never wiUingly renounce her domination in gSu exnla^n Lvv H ^^. ° ^.f *"^ ^"'"°'^- ^e need hardly 
Poland which would put an end to her expansion in the e^s bv Cerm^nv ^'^f^T'^ ^^6 attainment of such a position 
They know, therefore, that a reallv independent Poland of E.TrnrT^ ^''' "°* °"'^ ^°' ^"^^^^' ^ut for the whole 
free m the management of her affairs and in her forehm Th I Tn... 
policy, can only appear in Europe as the result of a creat hnrrWKpf ^ ^" ^^ prevented only by establishing a firm 
victory on the part of the Allies. Parallel with his deve op- Sta e To hr.n,^7f '"^ '"^ ^"^^^^ '" ^^e shape of the Poland 
ment of the problem from the Polish point of view the must hi ..fL^i'^''''^''^''^'"' ^"'"'^^^"'"^P^^tant task. Poland 
events of the third year of war threw a new light upon' tha? t?cal v .nH ^f ^'"^'^ T'",'* ^"™^" influence, and must, poli- 
problem from the point of view of the Allies. " • ^ ^ S first rnn^T^^'^fi:' ^^^ totally independent of Geni/any. ' 
yS hatever may be the further development of the internal the Sir rn.f/"" .^ .^^ ^"^^^"dence is the possession of 
situation of Russia ,t is certain that our eastern AlK^is PoHsh nort of n '• *^' T"*^ °^ ^^^ ^'^^^^a ^nd the old 
passmg through what promises to be a long constitut onal o realiie tL? ,?.h "'^^ . ^\ *™" ^""^ ^'^'"'^ ^^^ the Allies 
crisis, comphcated by a social revolution (land problem) and o restore So' P ^.^^^"•^■'^tory be not such as to force Germany 
what IS still more serious, by the strong separatist tendencies vouS be contrntS ^^'c''^^' "''"" ^ ^°"^^^"v ^'""^ Poland 
of the Fmns, the Ukramians and other races, of the Empire Germanv as . 7" f ^'l Germany. She would be used by 
h.'lT/^ ' T^^ '""^'<?" to believe that such a crisis^can ASL^Hun..?v ? ^"T'^^ ^"''''"^ ^" ^^^ ^''""'^ ^^ay as 
be settled easily and swiftly. Its probably long duration- bridge towarlt^heNea^last"''"^ '"'^''"'° "' " ^™^ 
