Amina.
261
And watched their fading pictures. In the thicket,
No insect chirrupped, and no tuneful bee
Sang in the rose. But from the distant grange,
A cock crowed shrill and ghostly as the blue
Distilled a stealthy twilight.
Darker yet,
The owl was hooting, and the giddy bat
Wheeled on his drunken flight. The wood-birds fled
Unwearied to their nests. Along the hollows,
The cattle in their pastures seemed asleep.
No insect chirrupped, and no tuneful bee
Sang in the rose. But from the distant grange,
A cock crowed shrill and ghostly as the blue
Distilled a stealthy twilight.
Darker yet,
The owl was hooting, and the giddy bat
Wheeled on his drunken flight. The wood-birds fled
Unwearied to their nests. Along the hollows,
The cattle in their pastures seemed asleep.
Amina, crouching in the harvest blooms,
Upraised her questioning eyes. Oh, wonder thus
To see the great Sun like a flower fade
Out of the fields of heaven! oh, worse than wonder!
Shrieking she rose. Into the valley strayed
A mountain path. Up this, Amina sprang,
Plucking the gaudy chaplets from her hair.
Mid-way betwixt bleak crest and wooded base
She halted, wild and breathless. At her feet,
A jutting crag burst from the forest boughs
And overhung the valley. Downward gazing,
Upraised her questioning eyes. Oh, wonder thus
To see the great Sun like a flower fade
Out of the fields of heaven! oh, worse than wonder!
Shrieking she rose. Into the valley strayed
A mountain path. Up this, Amina sprang,
Plucking the gaudy chaplets from her hair.
Mid-way betwixt bleak crest and wooded base
She halted, wild and breathless. At her feet,
A jutting crag burst from the forest boughs
And overhung the valley. Downward gazing,
