in a wood
TRANSCRIPT
Irish Jesuit Province
In a WoodAuthor(s): William O'NeillSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 34, No. 397 (Jul., 1906), pp. 385-386Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20500990 .
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IN A WOOD 385
beautiful in the moonlight. At the entrance Discontent lay
dead, with empty hands. Content passed in with timid steps. Her flask was not quite full, nor was the water quite clear, but she had done all she could, and the guardians of the palace
bowed down before her, and the King, rising from his thrones stretched out his hands in welcome.
L. CAnzW RAFFERTY.
IN A WOOD
THE arrows of a noonday sun
Are quiv'ring in the wood's cool verge,
From whose sweet shade no rabbits run,
No things of life emerge.
The long, low aisles of leafy shade
Seem in the brooding silence there For lonely, holy musing made,
A temple hushed in prayer.
For all is still within the brake,
High in the boughs no bird's clear call
Rings out the echoes to awake
God's peace is over all.
Now stirs the breeze among the leaves,
A grateful west wind blown afar,
And nature veils her face and grieves,
Her tears the raindrops are.
And softly o'er the thirsting grass
And o'er the pungent plumes of pine Those armies of the grey clouds pass,
Needing no countersign.
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386 tILE IRISH MONTHLY
Until the wood's great heart is theirs
Though oak and giant beech keep guard, And earth forgetful of her cares
Her portals has unbarred.
Up in the leafy belfries now
The poets of the woodland chant
Their vespers from each draperied bough, Solemn yet jubilant.
For with the change the pulse of song Vibrates within their breasts again,
And w-akes in all the feathered throng
Hosannas for the rain.
Loud and more loud the chorus grows In peals of subtle harmony
Ascending to its splendid close 'Mid storms of melody.
O gentle troubadours whose joy Is too divine for men to know,
What wondrous art do you employ
To charm our senses so !
WILLIAM O'NEILL.
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