REVISITED

It was beneath a waning moon when all the woods were sear,

And winds made eddies of the leaves that whispered far and near,

I met her on the bramble bridge we parted at last year.

At first I deemed her but a mist that faltered in that place,

An autumn mist beneath the trees the moon's thin beams did lace,

Until I neared and in the moon beheld her face to face.

The crinkle of the summer heat above the drouth-burnt leas;