Wayfarers
Over the talk of the day the sparrows swung
To and fro on the willows that overhung
The corner where the two paths, crossing, met
Just for that instant, ere their ways were set :
One to be lost on the crest of the fell
And the other, lost too, in Dingle Dell.
Tracks only, grass bordered, winding, narrow
Through Gate and Yew and Castle-barrow.
So, at the crossing, I stood and pondered
The while the gossiping sparrows wandered
From talk of this to talk of that, and on—
It seemed interminably . . . Time seemed to run
As shadows crept the steep side of the fell
And trailed blue smoke through trees in Dingle Dell ;
And time, I said, that my own mind was fixed
To one or other paths, and not betwixt
This or that track, either low or high.
But on I stood ; thinking and wondering why
My mind—just like the sparrows, could not lean
On one sure theme, but was always between
The shadows power over light up on the fell
And the trailing evening smoke in Dingle Dell.
So, with the last light gone, and, gone with it
The sparrows' never-ending 'chi, chi-chit',
Neither one path nor the other called to me.
And yet, my mind continued to disagree
Long after I had left the paths that crossed
For that one instant, and then were lost
Deep in black shadows long before the fell
And the tall trees surrounding Dingle Dell,
With the sparrows' quickly nervous 'chi, chi-chit'.
And for one night I could not make of it
A thread of sense, to run a mind laid bare,
And yet forever clouded with the air
Of dusk time ; of the shadows, of the smoke ;
Of the talk of garbling sparrows that broke
Sharply upon that peaceful atmosphere, Reverberating now more near and clear
Into my mind, so that for once to sit
Was but to hear their endless chi, chi-chit' !
Page(s) 3 (given as p.11)
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