| VOICES out of the shade that cried, | |
| And long noon in the hot calm places, | |
| And children’s play by the wayside, | |
| And country eyes, and quiet faces— | |
| All these were round my steady paces. | 5 |
| |
| Those that I could have loved went by me; | |
| Cool gardened homes slept in the sun; | |
| I heard the whisper of water nigh me, | |
| Saw hands that beckoned, shone, were gone | |
| In the green and gold. And I went on. | 10 |
| |
| For if my echoing footfall slept, | |
| Soon a far whispering there’d be | |
| Of a little lonely wind that crept | |
| From tree to tree, and distantly | |
| Followed me, followed me.… | 15 |
| |
| But the blue vaporous end of day | |
| Brought peace, and pursuit baffled quite, | |
| Where between pine-woods dipped the way. | |
| I turned, slipped in and out of sight. | |
| I trod as quiet as the night. | 20 |
| |
| The pine-boles kept perpetual hush; | |
| And in the boughs wind never swirled. | |
| I found a flowering lowly bush, | |
| And bowed, slid in, and sighed and curled, | |
| Hidden at rest from all the world. | 25 |
| |
| Safe! I was safe, and glad, I knew! | |
| Yet—with cold heart and cold wet brows | |
| I lay. And the dark fell.… There grew | |
| Meward a sound of shaken boughs; | |
| And ceased, above my intricate house; | 30 |
| |
| And silence, silence, silence found me.… | |
| I felt the unfaltering movement creep | |
| Among the leaves. They shed around me | |
| Calm clouds of scent, that I did weep; | |
| And stroked my face. I fell asleep. | 35 |
