Poetic Reflections on Nature and Mortality

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
and swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
and frogs in the pools singing at night,
and wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
robins will wear their feathery fire
whistling their whims on a low fence-wire
and not one will know of the war, not one
will care at last when it is done
not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
if mankind perished utterly;
and spring herself, when she woke at dawn
would scarcely know that we were gone

Meeting at Night

the gray sea and the long black land; a
and the yellow half-moon large and low b
and the startled little waves that leap c
in fiery ringlets from their sleep c
as I gain the cove with pushing prow b
and quench its speed i' the slushy sand a

then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; a
three fields to cross till a farm appears b
a tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch c
and blue spurt of a lighted match c
and a voice less loud, through its joys and fears; b
than the two hearts beating each to each a

Glossary of Terms

• Subterranean: Underground
• Telluric: Relating to the earth
• Seismographs: Instruments that record the intensity and duration of earthquakes
• Cadavers: Dead bodies
• Gangrene: Death and decay of body tissue, usually resulting from injury or disease
• Armoire: A large wardrobe or cabinet
• Putrescent: Rotting and foul-smelling
• Cataclysm: A violent and sudden change in the earth's crust
• In a viscous soup: Rotting in a thick soup