From "Sospiri Di Roma." I. Susurro by William Sharp. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

From “Sospiri Di Roma.” I. Susurro

William Sharp (1855–1905)


BREATH o’ the grass,
Ripple of wandering wind,
Murmur of tremulous leaves:
A moonbeam moving white
Like a ghost across the plain:	5
A shadow on the road:
And high up, high,
From the cypress-bough,
A long sweet melancholy note.
Silence.	10
And the topmost spray
Of the cypress-bough is still
As a wavelet in a pool:
The road lies duskily bare:
The plain is a misty gloom:	15
Still are the tremulous leaves;
Scarce a last ripple of wind,
Scarce a breath i’ the grass.
Hush: the tired wind sleeps:
Is it the wind’s breath, or	20
Breath o’ the grass?