Affection was too chaste a thing for mirth.

It was the time for harvest, and she sat

Awaiting one. A breath of scented hay

Was in the air, and from the distance came

The noise of sickles, and the voices sent

Out on the stillness of the quiet morn;

And the low waters, coming like the strain

Of a pervading melody, stole in,

And made all music! ’Twas a holiness

Of nature’s making, and I lifted up