October twilight.
59
Through the damp valley, muttering the while
Low incantations! From the wooded lanes
Loiters a bell's dull tinkle, keeping time
To the slow tread of kine; and I can see
By the rude trough the waters overbrim
The unyoked oxen gathered; some, athirst,
Stoop drinking steadily, and some have linked
Their horns in playful war. Roads climb the hills,
Divide the forests, and break off, abrupt,
At the horizon; hither, from below
There comes a sound of lumbering, jarring wheels,
The sound just struggles up the steep ascent,
Then drones off in the distance. Nearer still,
A rifle's rattling charge starts up the echoes,
That flutter like scared birds, and pause awhile
As on suspended wings, ere sinking slow
To their low nests. I can distinguish now
The labourer returning from his toil
With shouldered spade, and weary, laggard foot;
The cattle straying down the dusty road;
The sportsman, balancing his idle gun,
Whistling a light refrain, while close beside
Low incantations! From the wooded lanes
Loiters a bell's dull tinkle, keeping time
To the slow tread of kine; and I can see
By the rude trough the waters overbrim
The unyoked oxen gathered; some, athirst,
Stoop drinking steadily, and some have linked
Their horns in playful war. Roads climb the hills,
Divide the forests, and break off, abrupt,
At the horizon; hither, from below
There comes a sound of lumbering, jarring wheels,
The sound just struggles up the steep ascent,
Then drones off in the distance. Nearer still,
A rifle's rattling charge starts up the echoes,
That flutter like scared birds, and pause awhile
As on suspended wings, ere sinking slow
To their low nests. I can distinguish now
The labourer returning from his toil
With shouldered spade, and weary, laggard foot;
The cattle straying down the dusty road;
The sportsman, balancing his idle gun,
Whistling a light refrain, while close beside
