I

Low belts of rushes ragged with the blast;

Lagoons of marish reddening with the west;

And o'er the marsh the water-fowl's unrest

While daylight dwindles and the dusk falls fast.

Set in sad walls, all mossy with the past,

An old stone gateway with a crumbling crest;

A garden where death drowses manifest;

And in gaunt yews the shadowy house at last.

Here, like an unseen spirit, silence talks