I saw the old Roman ruins white with pinks

And felt the hillside haunted even then

By not dead memory of the Roman men.

And felt the hillside thronged by souls unseen

Who knew the interest in me and were keen

That man alive should understand man dead

So many centuries since the blood was shed.

And quickened with strange hush because this comer

Sensed a strange soul alive behind the summer.

That other day on Ercall when the stones